CASTING FORGING DEFECTIVE SAMPLES
18.0. CASTING and FORGING DEFECTIVE SAMPLE:
We
are our own well equipped set up for making casting and forging defective
samples as per client customized requirements. The flawed casting and forging
samples are used as a demonstration process prior to examination.
CASTING DEFECTS:
A casting
defect is an undesired irregularity in a metal casting process. Some defects can be
tolerated while others can be repaired, otherwise they must be eliminated. They
are broken down into five main categories: gas porosity, shrinkage
defects, mould material defects, pouring metal defects,
and metallurgical defects.
1.
Shrinkage defects
Shrinkage defects
can occur when standard feed metal is not available to compensate for shrinkage as the thick metal solidifies.
Shrinkage defects will have jagged or linear appearance. Shrinkage defects
usually occur in either the cope or drag portion of the casting. Shrinkage
defects can be split into two different types: open shrinkage
defects and closed shrinkage defects.
Open shrinkage
defects are open to the atmosphere, therefore as the shrinkage cavity forms, air
compensates. There are two types of open air
defects: pipes and caved surfaces. Pipes form at the surface of
the casting and burrow into the casting, while caved surfaces are shallow
cavities that form across the surface of the casting.
Closed shrinkage
defects, also known as shrinkage porosity, are defects that form within
the casting. Isolated pools of liquid form inside solidified metal, which are
called hot spots. The shrinkage defect usually forms at the top of the hot
spots. They require a nucleation point, so impurities and dissolved gas can
induce closed shrinkage defects. The defects are broken up into macro
porosity and micro porosity (or micro shrinkage), where macro
porosity can be seen by the naked eye and micro porosity cannot.
2.
Gas porosity
Gas porosity is
the formation of bubbles within the casting after it has cooled. This occurs
because most liquid materials can hold a large amount of dissolved gas, but the
solid form of the same material cannot, so the gas forms bubbles within the
material as it cools. Gas porosity may present itself on the surface of
the casting as porosity or the pore may be trapped inside the metal, which
reduces strength in that vicinity. Nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen are
the most encountered gases in cases of gas porosity. In aluminum castings,
hydrogen is the only gas that dissolves in significant quantity, which can
result in hydrogen gas porosity. For casting that is
a few kilograms in weight the pores are usually 0.01 to 0.5 mm (0.00039 to
0.01969 in) in size. In larger casting, they can be up to a millimeter
(0.040 in) in diameter. To prevent gas porosity the material may be melted
in a vacuum, in an environment of low-solubility gases, such as argon or carbon dioxide, or
under a flux that prevents contact with the air. To minimize gas solubility
the superheat temperatures can be kept low. Turbulence from
pouring the liquid metal into the mould can introduce gases, so the moulds are
often streamlined to minimize such turbulence. Other methods include vacuum degassing, gas flushing,
or precipitation. Precipitation involves reacting the gas with another element
to form a compound that will form dross that floats to the top. For
instance, oxygen can
be removed from copper by adding phosphorus;
aluminum or silicon can
be added to steel to remove oxygen. A third source consists of reactions
of the molten metal with grease or other residues in the mould.
Hydrogen is produced
by the reaction of the metal with humidity or residual moisture in the mould.
Drying the mould can eliminate this source of hydrogen formation. Gas porosity
can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from micro shrinkage because micro
shrinkage cavities can contain gases as well. In general, micro porosities will
form if the casting is not properly risered or if a material with a wide
solidification range is cast. If neither of these are the case then most likely
the porosity is due to gas formation.
Blowhole
defect in a cast iron part.
Tiny gas bubbles are
called porosities, but larger gas bubbles are called blowholes or blisters.
Such defects can be caused by air entrained in the melt, steam or smoke from
the casting sand, or other gasses from the melt or
mould. (Vacuum holes caused by metal shrinkage (see above) may also be loosely
referred to as 'blowholes'). Proper foundry practices, including melt
preparation and mould design, can reduce the occurrence of these defects.
Because they are often surrounded by a skin of sound metal, blowholes may be
difficult to detect, requiring harmonic, ultrasonic, magnetic, or X-ray (i.e., industrial CT scanning) analysis.
3. Pouring metal defects
Pouring metal
defects include misruns, cold shuts, and inclusions. A misrun
occurs when the liquid metal does not completely fill the mould cavity, leaving
an unfilled portion. Cold shuts occur when two fronts of liquid metal do not
fuse properly in the mould cavity, leaving a weak spot. Both are caused by
either a lack of fluidity in the molten metal or cross-sections that are too
narrow. The fluidity can be increased by changing the chemical composition of
the metal or by increasing the pouring temperature. Another possible cause
is back pressure from improperly vented mould
cavities.
Misruns and cold
shuts are closely related and both involve the material freezing before it
completely fills the mould cavity. These types of defects are serious because
the area surrounding the defect is significantly weaker than
intended. The cast ability and viscosity of
the material can be important factors with these problems. Fluidity affects the
minimum section thickness that can be cast, the maximum length of thin
sections, fineness of feasibly cast details, and the accuracy of filling mould
extremities. There are various ways of measuring the fluidity of a material,
although it usually involves using a standard mould shape and measuring the
distance the material flows. Fluidity is affected by the composition of the
material, freezing temperature or range, surface tension of oxide films, and,
most importantly, the pouring temperature. The higher the pouring temperature,
the greater the fluidity; however, excessive temperatures can be detrimental,
leading to a reaction between the material and the mould; in casting processes
that use a porous mould material the material may even penetrate the mould
material. The point at which the material cannot flow is called
the coherency point. The point is difficult to predict in mould design because
it is dependent on the solid fraction, the structure of the solidified
particles, and the local shear strain rate
of the fluid. Usually this value ranges from 0.4 to 0.8.
An inclusion is a
metal contamination of dross, if solid, or slag, if liquid. These
usually are impurities in the pour metal (generally oxides, less
frequently nitrides, carbides,
or sulfides),
material that is eroded from furnace or ladle linings, or contaminates from the
mould. In the specific case of aluminum alloys, it is important to control the
concentration of inclusions by measuring them in the
liquid aluminum and taking actions to keep them to the required level.
There are a number
of ways to reduce the concentration of inclusions. In order to reduce oxide
formation the metal can be melted with a flux,
in a vacuum,
or in an inert atmosphere. Other ingredients can be
added to the mixture to cause the dross to float to the top where it can be
skimmed off before the metal is poured into the mould. If this is not
practical, then a special ladle that pours the metal from the bottom can be
used. Another option is to install ceramic filters
into the gating system. Otherwise swirl gates can be formed which swirl the
liquid metal as it is poured in, forcing the lighter inclusions to the center
and keeping them out of the casting. If some of the dross or slag is
folded into the molten metal then it becomes an entrainment defect.
4.
Metallurgical defects
There are two
defects in this category: hot tears and hot spots. Hot tears,
also known as hot cracking, are failures in the casting that occur as
the casting cools. This happens because the metal is weak when it is hot and
the residual stresses in the material can cause the casting to fail as it
cools. Proper mould design prevents this type of defect.
Hot spots are
sections of casting which have cooled down more slowly than the surrounding
material due to higher volume than its surrounding. This causes abnormal
shrinkage in this region, which can lead to porosity and cracks. This type of
defect can be avoided by proper cooling practices or by changing the chemical
composition of the metal.
FORGING DEFECTS:
Steel forging defects are not widely
discussed because of a natural reluctance by forging company to draw attention
to them. There are many imperfections that can be considered as being defects,
ranging from those traceable to the starting materials to those caused by
closed die forging process or by post forging operations. Defects can be
defined as imperfections that exceed certain limits. In other words, there may
be imperfections that are not classified as true “defects” because they are
smaller than allowances in the applicable specifications.
The following listed information
is about common and not so common defects of steel forgings that come from the
actual closed die
forging operations or from post forging operations typical of
many forge plants. The goal here is to acquaint the reader with these various
defects, with how they can affect forging performance, and how to eliminate
them with future forging production.
1) Unfilled
Section:
As the name implies in this type of defect some of the forging
section remain unfilled. This is due to poor design of die or poor forging technic.
This is also due to less raw material or poor heating. This defect can be
removed by proper die design, proper availability of raw material and proper
heating.
2) Cold Shut:
Cold
shut includes small cracks at corners. These defects occur due to improper
design of forging die. It is also due to sharp corner, and excessive chilling
in forging product. The fillet radius of the die should be increase to
remove these defects.
3) Scale Pits:
Scale pits are due to improper
cleaning of forged surface. This defect generally associated with forging in
open environment. It is irregular deputations on the surface of forging. It can
be removed by proper cleaning of forged surface.
4)
Die Shift:
Die shift is caused by
misalignment of upper die and lower die. When both these dies are not properly
aligned the forged product does not get proper dimensions. This defect can
be removed by proper alignment. It can be done by provide half notch on upper
die and half on lower die so at the time of alignment, both these notches will
matched.
5)
Flakes:
These are internal cracks occur
due to improper cooling of forge product. When the forge product cooled
quickly, these cracks generally occur which can reduced the strength of forge
product. This defect can be removed by proper cooling.
6)
Improper Grain Growth:
This defect occurs due to
improper flow of metal in casting which changes predefine grain structure of
product. It can be removed by proper die design
7) Incomplete
Forging Penetration:
This defect arises due to
incomplete forging. it is due to light or rapid hammer blow. This defect can be
removed by proper control on forging press.
8)
Surface Cracking:
Surface cracking occurs due to
exercise working on surfaces at low temperature. In this defect, So many cracks
arise on work piece. This defect can be removed by proper control on
working temperature.
9) Residual Stresses in Forging:
This defect occurs due to
improper cooling of forged part. Too much rapid cooling is main causes of this
type of defects. This can be removed by slow cooling of forged part.