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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION:
When we are talking about „Manufacturing Technology‟ we have to first explain the terms
Manufacturing and Technology.

What is meant by ‘Manufacturing’ and what is the difference between „manufacture‟ and „production‟
if there is any? An item of Artistic nature, say for example a Drawing or a Sculpture is often made as
„ONE‟ item. It is produced by the same person who plans (perhaps mentally) or designs it. Even
consumer items were earlier often made in „one off‟ or in small quantities, say a carpenter making a
table or a few chairs or an Almirah. However, this has gradually been changed now to making such
items in large quantities at some central place(s) to be then sold to customers. This is often done in a
Factory, a Plant or a Workshop. This process of making or producing of items in a large or mass scale
was earlier termed as „Production‟ and thus the field of „Production Engineering‟. However the term
„production‟ is very loosely used. Even breading of animals such as Cattle, Pigs, Chicken in large scale
or in farms were also called production or produce. Plantation where agricultural items such as
vegetables and fruits etc, were grown were also termed produce and the process production.

Engineers did not like this ambiguity and they wanted to make clear and distinguish what they make in
large scale and industrially, from the above said farm and plantation products. In engineering it is mainly
Engineering Items, and perhaps a few agricultural or horticultural items further processed, made using
industrial machinery in a large scale, for example Tea, Finished food products etc., that are dealt with.
Thus engineers termed them „Manufacturing‟ or „Manufactured items‟. Thus it is clear what is termed
now as MANUFACTURING by engineers is making of products or items in large or mass scale usually
using industrial machinery, equipment or processes, and probably in a factory, a workshop or in a similar
environment. Thus the previously called „Production Engineering / Technology‟ too has now been
changed to „Manufacturing Engineering/ Technology‟. Some text books would define Manufacturing as
conversion of material into products, thus involving a process of value addition. This definition too is
correct but in the context of a design engineer or an engineering designer it is better to specify this
process as defined earlier

What is meant by ‘Technology’? Before answering this we have to define what science is. Science
may be defined as the study of nature, or study of „what nature is‟ and „how things happen in nature‟.
The so called western science superficially studies this under Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy
etc., and their sub-divisions. However these had been explained much earlier under the terms „Beeja
Niyama‟, „Dhamma Niyama‟ and „Irthu Niyama‟ and with „Chitta Niyama‟ and „Karma Niyama‟ so-far
not only unexplained, but not even gained even a minute knowledge through the so-called western
sciences.

Considering the so-called western sciences, the knowledge gained from them is of no use unless they are
converted to useful items, products or processes etc. that can be used for the benefit of the living beings
(though some think it is only the human beings that are living). No „idea‟, „Innovation‟ or even an
„Invention‟ is of any use unless it is converted to a tangible item, product or a system, through the
process of design and manufacture. What makes this conversion is the ‘Technology’. This process of
conversion of science to technology may be termed „Engineering‟. Then what is this „engineering
science‟ often talked of? This really is a misnomer used to specify the „theoretical aspects only of
engineering‟. Engineering science alone is of no use without technology, and technology naturally
includes science as well.
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Manufacturing Technology
Thus Manufacturing Technology means the technology that is needed for conversion of ideas to tangible
items and products through the process of Design and Manufacture. Here we are concerned only with the
Engineering items, products and processes, though same may be applied usefully in many other areas of
design. Manufacturing technology is a very wide field and the intention here is to impart sufficient
knowledge of manufacturing technology that is ESSENTIAL for all those who are involved in
engineering design. As present day Graduate or Diploma engineers who followed a university course of
study are meant for Design, and not for maintenance as was the case some time back, all of them need a
good knowledge of at least of the basic aspects of manufacturing technology essential for them to make
their designs pragmatic, optimal and competitive. However, unfortunately, the present day tendency is to
remove „manufacturing or even workshop technology‟ from the syllabi of most of the non-mechanical
and manufacturing engineering courses. Performance of recent graduates shows that this had made most
of them completely ignorant of manufacturing technology thus making silly and ridiculous mistakes in
their design. Thus the intention of this book is to provide them with an „easy to understand‟ work to gain
basic knowledge of at least of the Essential aspects of the manufacturing technology sufficient for their
design work. Yet even the Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering students also could use this as a
text book during their first and second years of study.

Components and Assembly

In chemistry we deal with elements, compounds, alloys etc. All these can be broken down into the
smallest particle „atom‟ (without going into subatomic particles or quantum physics). In other words that
means all elements, compounds, alloys etc are made of atoms of different elements so arranged or
assembled to form that compound, alloy etc. Similarly any „Engineering Item or Product‟ is made up of
‘Components’ so assembled in the required manner. In other words all engineering items, products or
even systems etc. are made of ‘Components’ by „Assembling‟ them in the required manner,

This means that if we want to make any item or product, first we have to „make‟ the components and
then „assemble‟ them. Manufacturing Technology deals with these two processes, i.e. how the
components are made and how they are assembled to form the final product. To make this clear let us
take a simple example, say a ball point pen. It is made up of a clip, centre portion –usually plastic- with
end cap and front cap with a hole or facility for the nib (or ball point) to come out. Then there is a centre
plastic tube which contains ink, and the nib or the ball point fitted to the ink tube. If we examine the ball
point or nib closely we can see that it is made up of two components a Brass or metal tube like portion of
a small diameter and a Ball made of a harder material fitted to above nib in such a way that the ball can
rotate yet kept in position at the edge of the tube with the inner end of the ball touching the inc thus
transmitting inc to the paper by rotation of the ball during writing.

Figure 1

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Now if we are to manufacture these ball point pens, first we have to procure (make or buy) all the above
components, and then they have to be assembled to form the pens. Often all the components may not be
made at the same premises and many components may be advantageously procured from outside. (This
aspect will be discussed later). However all the components have to be made somewhere. So it is
important to know the technology of making these „components‟ and the technology of „assembling‟
them.

Let us take a little bit more complicated example, say „a Bicycle‟. The bicycle can first be divided (or
broken down) in to what we call subassemblies. Say: Frame, Front handle and fork, Front wheel
assembly, Seat, Rear wheel assembly, Pedal assembly, and Chain and drive assembly (fig 2). Let us take
the front wheel subassembly. It consists of a hub, bearings balls and cones, centre stud and nuts, spokes
and their nuts, rim, and the tire. If we further divide, the tire consists of the outer tyre and the tube. Now
the tube too is made of rubber tube and valve assembly. Valve assembly consists of several metal
components and small rubber tube (valve tube), plastic cap etc.

Figure 2

Similarly all the other subassemblies can be further subdivided. For example the frame consists of
several metal tubes fitted or „assembled‟ together by welding, a very important method of assembling.
The hub components on the contrary are assembled by Nuts etc. Assembly of components may be
carried out by mechanical fastening (Bolts and nuts, Screws, Nails, Rivets studs etc,), metallurgical
methods (such as welding, brazing, soldering etc.), as well as bonding.
Even if we take much more complicated products the basic principles are the same. For example
consider a car. This can be subdivided into Engine, Drive system, Suspension, body, braking system,
Steering system etc. If we take the engine it can be subdivided into say engine block, Head, Crank shaft,
Cam shaft, Valves, Push rod and springs, Pistons and rings, Connecting rods, Sleeves, Bearings oil
pump, sump, water pump, fan, etc. These then can be subdivided into individual components which are
assembled together with one or more of the above mentioned methods to form the sub assemblies, which
are then put together to for the final item or the product. It is the same in the case of an aircraft or even a
space craft. Product can be divided in to subassemblies, to sub-sub assemblies, sub-sub-sub-assemblies
etc… and finally to components.
Thus it is important to know how these components can be manufactured, and how they can be
assembled. Here it is intended to provide knowledge of basic processes involved in above, needed by
engineers of all disciplines and engineering designers.
Thus it should be clear that however complicated the final item or the product may be, yet it can be
broken down in to components. Thus if we have sufficient knowledge of how these components are
manufactured and how they can be assembled that will be of immense help at the design stage itself,
where now „design for manufacture‟ is a prominent feature in designing. Fortunately processes of
manufacture of components are not so many and of assembly too very limited. So it is not so
complicated as it might appear at first sight.

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Chapter 2
BASIC MANUFACTURING AND ASSEMBLY PROCESSES
Process used to manufacture an item or a component depends on several factors, most prominent of
which are the material used, shape and dimensions of the product, strength and other physical
characteristics expected, number of pieces required etc. Some of the most common materials used in
engineering applications are Metals and Alloys, Plastics, Ceramics, Glass, Rubber, Timber, and Epoxies
and Polymers. Item may be made to „Near shape‟ in one operation or may require a number of
operations to get the required shape. Physical properties such as strength, hardness etc, may be enhanced
by using properties such as „Work hardening‟ or „Heat treatment‟ etc, while appearance and protection
could be obtained by „Finishing‟ processes. Assembly may be with Mechanical means, Metallurgical
methods or by Adhesion or bonding.

Manufacturing Processes
There is no universally accepted classification of manufacturing processes. Some would prefer to
classify moulding, casting and similar processes as „near shape processes’ as the product is obtained in
its final form or shape, or very close, with very little or no further processing needed to get the final
dimensions, though finishing processes may be applied to improve appearance and /or protection and to
obtain or enhance certain properties. However in casting and moulding processes the material is brought
to a fluidic state, either to liquid or plastically flowing, and made to obtain its final shape inside a cavity
of required shape. Processes such as closed die forging and cold forming too, or even certain sheet metal
working processes produce items in final form or very close to it. However the mechanisms of forming
in those cases are quite different from that of casting or moulding. So it is better to classify them
according to closeness of the process mechanism. Further, many items are made by removing material,
by a process of machining, from unwanted locations of a stock material in the form of a bar, rectangle or
any other shape, to get the required shape. This is known as machining or machining process (and is
sometimes called material removal processes, which is not very correct as material removal may be
involved with other or non-machining processes as well where the mechanism of material removal may
be quite different). Powder metallurgical process is another technique use in manufacture and is often
used where material which do not alloy or where the melting point of one or more constituents is very
high. Here often near final finish is obtained, but there are occasions where subsequent machining may
be involved.

Accordingly manufacturing processes may be logically classified as „Casting and Moulding processes‟,
„Volume forming processes‟ –some times called bulk forming-, „Sheet metal forming processes‟,
„Machining processes‟, „Powder metallurgical processes‟ and „Finishing processes‟. Though „grinding‟
too, which really is a machining process, is sometimes (incorrectly) referred to as a finishing process,
what is classified here as „finishing‟ are processes such as „heat treatment‟, „Surface finishing and
coating‟ etc. where special properties and protection and/or enhanced appearance is imparted to the
product.

Casting and Moulding Processes

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CASTING is the most common among these processes. Materials which can be brought to a fluidic state
can be transferred in to a cavity made to the required final shape of the product and the material made to
harden or solidify within that cavity. The cavity made to the final or near final shape of the product is
called the „Mould‟. Mould may be made in a manner that it can withstand not only the temperatures
involved in the process but also the stresses. Depending on the requirements and the process, the moulds
may be of the type that can be used only ones called „expendable‟ or that can be used repeatedly. These
will be discussed in detail later. Introduction of the molten material to the cavity may be done by
„pouring under gravity‟ or „with application of pressure‟. Filling under pressure may again be „low
pressure‟ on permanent mould or „High pressure‟ on dies which is known as „pressure die casting‟.

Melting is one of the most common methods of converting the material to fluidic state. This method is
used with most of the metals and alloys and is widely used with Cast Iron, Brass, Bronze, Aluminium
etc.

Mixing of two or more materials is the other common method of achieving the required fluidic state of
materials, which then achieve its hardness through a chemical reaction, while being inside the cavity of
the mould, thus acquiring the required shape. Cement and concrete castings are good examples of this
process. Here the cement sand (and metal in case of concrete) are mixed with water to get the fluidic
consistency that is required to be transferred in to the mould cavity of required shape. The hardening
process is through a chemical reaction. Plaster of Paris is another example. It is mixed with required
amount of water to enable it to be put in to the mould cavity. Many epoxies, usually resin and hardener,
are also now being used to cast certain items, with or without reinforcement. Clear epoxies find wide
application in ornamental castings incorporating internally placed attractions. Fibreglass products too
are good examples of this process. Thus it should be made clear that it is not always necessary to melt
the materials to obtain the required fluidity but other methods can also be used.

In certain casting processes additional force or pressure is also used for the introduction of the material
to the mould. Pressure die casting and centrifugal casting are two processes where pressure and
centrifugal force are used respectively assist introduction of material to the moulds. With this additional
pressure or force more intricate shapes and contours can be obtained with this process than are possible
with other types.

Continuous casting is another casting process commonly used for obtaining a continuous product of
same cross-section such as billets. Here the molten metal or alloy is made to pour through an orifice of
the required shape at a regulated rate so that it gets solidified or semi-hardened while being poured and
can be collected in the final shape. This process is mostly confined to casting of billets etc.

MOULDING is another process used for obtaining near or final shape products particularly from plastic
materials. Unlike Metals and alloys plastics cannot be heated and brought to a molten state, neither can
they be mixed in two components to obtain the required fluidic condition like in „plaster of paris‟,
cement sand mixture or epoxies. When plastics are heated they soften and become formable but if the
temperature is further increased instead of becoming fluidic it will get decomposed, often known as
burning or charring. Because of that plastics have to be formed in this semi fluidic state. Naturally that
will then need higher forces to introduce them to a mould of required shape or to form it inside the
mould. There are two principal types of moulding processes used with plastics based on the two main
types of plastics, ‘Thermo plastics’ and ‘Thermo-setting plastics‟.

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Thermo-plastics can be softened by heating, formed to required shape at that temperature. When cooled
inside the mould it will retain that shape. However if it is heated again it becomes soft again and can be
formed again to a different shape. Basically it becomes soft and formable within a specified temperature
range and once cooled retain the shape and the process can be repeated. On the other hand Thermo-
setting plastics once heated will under go a chemical reaction and harden. It cannot be softened again on
heating back to that temperature. That means it is not re-usable. To form thermosetting plastics the
plastic compound is heated inside a mould of required shape or cavity while being subjected to pressure
to provide required compaction. Within a specified time it hardens through a chemical reaction. But it
cannot be reformed by heating or other means.

Injection Moulding is a process used for forming a Thermoplastic to a required shape inside a mould.
Here the heated material at softened or „Plastic‟ state is forced in to the mould cavity through a process
of high pressure injection. This process will be discussed in detail later. This is very close to the pressure
die casting process, in which too material is injected under pressure to the die cavity. But in pressure die
casting material being injected is in liquid state (molten) where as in injection moulding the
thermoplastic being injected is only at its plastic or softened state.

Volume (or Bulk) Forming Processes

As the name implies „Volume or Bulk forming‟ relates to the forming or changing of shape in a 3-D
manner. Starting material provides the needed volume of material which is converted to the required
shape or geometry through shifting or dislocation of material from unwanted locations to the required
locations. This is distinct from machining in which material is removed from unwanted locations to
obtain the required geometry and no material relocation is involved. Volume forming being a 3-D
process differs from sheet metal forming processes which are 2-D forming processes. „Forging‟,
„Rolling‟, „Extrusion‟, „Wiredrawing‟ and „Swaging‟ are some common processes coming under volume
forming.

FORGING is also a process used to produce a near shape. It has some similarities to moulding and
casting in that the shape of the die cavity is imparted to the product as in casting and moulding. Basic
difference is that while casting is done at liquid state and moulding at a softened and flowing state,
„Forging‟ is done at solid state. Thus naturally the forces and stresses involved will be much higher than
in casting or moulding. Forging may be done either Hot, Cold or at Warm states.

‘Hot Forging’ is done while the material is heated sufficiently to reduce flow stresses so that the
deformation can be carried out with relatively low stresses compared with that of cold forging. Strictly
speaking the material is heated above its re-crystallization temperature so that not only the flow stresses
are reduced but the material is re-crystallized. The raw material usually in the form of a billet is pressed
between two die halves the cavity of which is the shape of the final product with due allowances for
thermal contraction, and with facilities to squeeze off the excess material. This has many advantages
over casting in that „defects‟ are much reduced with much better grain orientation. Most common
materials that are being hot forged are Steels, and the forged products find wide application in critical
components due to their reliability.

Cold Forging is similar but carried out at room temperature. As the flow stresses are much higher at
cold state, the forces needed to cold forge are also much higher compared to hot forging. Thus this will
either need much powerful machinery or material worked has to be much softer than hot forged items.
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Even with harder materials this is possible if the product dimensions are relatively small as the total
forces involved then will be much lower even though the stresses may be high. Zinc, Aluminium and
their alloys, Brasses etc. find wide application in cold forming, while steels including stainless and alloy
steels too are cold forged when the item are relatively small. As no re-crystallization takes place during
cold forging, the product will usually get work hardened. This property is often used to get higher
strength products from raw materials of lower strength. As there are no thermal contractions, unlike in
hot forging, final dimensions are much more accurate and the surface finish also much better than with
hot forging.

Warm Forging is a process devised to combine the advantages of both hot and cold forming. Forming is
done with the temperature of the raw material raised to a specified value much above room temperature
to reduce the flow stresses and thus the force involved, yet being kept below the critical or re-
crystallization temperature so that no re-crystallization takes place and thus work hardening properties
are also retained advantageously. As the temperature is not very high surface oxidation too is not
prominent in warm forging and thus the surface finish is also mush better and accurate than with hot
forging.

Open Die Forging is a process where the forging is not confined to the cavity formed by two die halves,
but is done in open. That means the deformation of material is much less restricted and follows the
principals of pressing between open platens. This will be discussed in detail later. Main uses of open die
forging are for „fullering‟ and for preparation of „pre-forms‟ for closed die forging. However open die
forming is not a ‘near shape forming’ operation and often need subsequent processing such as further
forming as closed die, or machining.

EXTRUSION: If we subject a material to a system of 3-D stresses, the material will yield when the
difference between any two principal stresses reach the yield (or flow) stress of the material. If we
confine a material in to a closed space, say inside a cylinder, and subject it to an increasing stress field,
say by pushing with a piston, material will be subjected to 3-D stress field. However as long as the
cylinder is closed no deformation takes place, other than elastic contraction due to bulk modulus which
is negligible in normal metals and alloys, as all the three principal stresses are nearly same. However if
we have an opening at the end (opposite the piston) of the cylinder the material then will be exposed to
atmosphere from that opening, which means the stress on that side now becomes zero, thus creating a
difference in principal stresses. Thus as the piston force is increased the stress difference too will be
increased, and once it reaches the flow stress the material will start yielding and flow out of the opening.
This is the basic principle of Extrusion. Making String hoppers is a good example of this process.
Squeezing out of tooth paste from a tube is another example where no piston is used but the stress field
is created by squeezing the tube. The extruded item then will be a rod having the cross section, or shape,
of that of the aperture, may it be circular, oval, square, rectangular or any other but yet solid. If the die
aperture, however, is not a complete hole but is restricted at the middle by some means, say a mandrel,
the section extruded then will not be a solid but a pipe. How to hold such a mandrel during the extrusion
process is rather tricky and will be discussed later.

From above it is clear that the forces involved in extrusion depend on the flow stress of the material
being extruded. Thus soft materials, i.e. those with low flow stress, are easily extruded and can usually
be done under cold condition at room temperature. However the forces needed to extrude harder
materials under cold conditions will be very heavy and practically not possible. Thus, as in the case of
„forging‟, harder materials can be „hot extruded‟ by heating above its re-crystallisation temperature.
Steel is usually hot extruded while soft materials such as lead can be easily cold extruded. Extrusion is

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widely used for the manufacture of aluminium profiles used often in building industry and many other
applications.

In normal extrusion pressing is carried out at conventional speeds of deformation with the force being
applied smoothly. However, particularly in cold forming of relatively small items, extrusion may be
carried out by application of a sudden, or impact force. This type of extrusion is called „Impact
extrusion’. Zinc can extrusion for dry cells and aluminium tubes for toothpaste and medicine containers
are some examples of impact extrusion. These are further classified as „forward’, „backward‟ or
„combined‟ extrusion based on the direction of material movement with respect to „punch‟ or the piston.
When material is made to extrude in radial direction it is termed „radial extrusion‟. There are several
other extrusion processes and those too will be discussed in detail later.

DRAWING: In extrusion material is subjected to a set of compressive forces. Instead the required
difference in principal stresses may be obtained by subjecting one side (or an end) to a tensile force.
Thus if the material say in the form of a rod is pulled through a „Die‟ its diameter can be reduced. This is
one of the basic processes used to make wires. Thus it is called „Wire drawing‟, and applied widely for
making copper, aluminium and steel wires. Though drawing is usually done to produce wires of circular
sections the process can be used, if needed, to obtain wires of other cross sections by changing the shape
of the die aperture. If a hollow section, instead of a solid section, is drawn through a die aperture of a
lower cross-section the product so obtained will be a tube or a pipe. This process can be used to reduce
the cross-section of pipes and tubes and often a centre mandrel may be required to control the wall
thickness and/or internal diameter. These techniques will be discussed in detail later.

ROLLING: If we take some material and squeeze between two plates a stress system will so develop
that it will yield and deform. Instead of plates if we use two rollers and squeeze the material between
them by rolling action then too the material will deform, but then the thickness of the out going material
will be the gap between the rollers. Further, process will be continuous as long as we continue to feed
the material between the rollers. This is called rolling. Just as in „Forging‟ processes, if the rolling is
carried out below the re-crystallization temperature it is termed „Cold rolling’, while above that is
termed „Hot rolling’. While materials of low flow stress are amenable to cold rolling, those of high flow
stress are heated before rolling to reduce the required forces. Steel is usually hot rolled while
Aluminium, Tin and similar materials are Cold rolled.

Plate or Sheet Rolling: If the rollers are flat then what emerges out will be flat. Depending on the
relative thickness of the product we may call them either „plates‟ or „sheets‟, and the processes „plate
rolling’ or „sheet rolling’. To achieve high degree of thickness reduction several rolling stages in series
can be arranged. Steel is usually rolled hot due to its high flow stress at room temperature and comes in
the form of sheets or plates. Starting material often is of square section and comes in specified lengths,
called billets. Once one billet is rolled the other billet is fed. Most common „cold rolled‟ materials are
Aluminium and Tin, and when it is made very thin is referred to as „foils‟.

Section Rolling: If the roll surfaces are having uniform grooves right round the circumference instead of
being flat, then the product emerging out of the rolls will have a cross section which is the result of the
two grooves in the two rollers kept together. Thus if we have two semi-circular section grooves on top
and bottom rollers, when they are kept together the section formed is circular and the product will thus
have a circular section or it will be a rod. Similarly if the section formed by the combination of grooves
is elliptical product will be elliptical, if rectangular product will be rectangular etc. Thus this method can
be used to roll many sections such as „U‟ or channels, „V‟ or angles, „H‟ or „I‟ beams etc. However the
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final shape often cannot be obtained in one pass and thus a number of passes are arranged in series. This
type of rolling is called „section rolling‟

Roll Forging: Another alternative is to have a non-uniform section of the groove formed by combining
the groves of top and bottom rollers. In other words the grooves are not uniform through out the
circumference. Instead it varies along the circumference with perhaps no groove at all in part of the
circumference. Thus the product obtained will be of non-uniform cross section. This process is called
„Roll Forging‟ and is often made use to prepare pre-forms for die forging processes. Finished products
too may be obtained sometimes with two or more roll forging operations. Many agricultural equipment
such as mammoties are often manufactured by this process.

SWAGING is a process where forces are applied in a radial direction on a work piece. Thus the
material is made to flow inwards forming the required shape. This is very close to a mechanised
hammering process. This will be discussed in detail later.

Sheet Metal Forming Processes

This differs from Volume forming in that the raw materials used are in the form of sheets and not billets,
bar stocks or sections, and that the stress systems applied are often 2-D compared to 3-D in volume
forming processes. Sheets can be formed into products by Blanking & piercing, Bending, Drawing (as in
cup drawing), Spinning, Shear & Flow forming, Stretch forming and Explosive forming etc.

BLANKING & PIERCING are both basically simple shearing operations carried out using „Die &
Punch‟ sets. However these find very wide applications in industry. If a hole is needed in a sheet metal
product it can much easily be done by piercing than by drilling. What we are interested in piercing is the
hole made in the product and the piece that may be sheared off is often wasted. However in Blanking the
useful product is the sheared off part and the remaining part, in the sheet, is scrap. In many instances
both blanking and piercing are combined to make the final product, a good example is the manufacture
of washers which is carried out in two die and punch sets assembled together. Sometimes this may be
combined with shallow drawing (see later) to make many products using multiple or progressive die and
punch sets.

BENDING is a very simple, but very versatile process, which combined with shearing, can be used to
manufacture many products. Some examples are lighting fittings, sheet metal profiles such as used for
roller gates, etc. Bending may be accomplished by rectangular bending using press-brakes or by roller
bending. These will be discussed later in detail with applications.

SHEET DRAWING (or Cup Drawing) can be divided in to „Deep drawing‟ and „Shallow drawing‟
based on the depth of drawing. Naturally deep drawing involves higher stresses and is complicated than
shallow drawing. They are drawn to the form of a cup, may be circular section or otherwise. Stresses
involved in cup drawing includes radial tensile and bending, as well as tangential compressive. This
tangential compressive stress leads to collapse of the relatively thin section leading to formation of
wrinkles which is one of the major draw backs in spite of the many remedial measures adopted. There
are many associated processes such as re-drawing, Ironing etc., to get a better product than is possible
with a single stage of drawing. This can be applied for the manufacture of many items and with many
ductile materials such as copper, steel, and even with stainless steel etc.

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SPINNING is a process where deformation is obtained by application of force on a work piece that is
being rotated. At any moment the forces applied and thus the deformation is on a single point. Therefore,
the forces involved are much less than with cup drawing. Deformation takes place gradually and in a
spiral manner. As this involves revolving of the product around its axis, the products are limited to axi-
symmetric items. Aluminium, copper and brass, mild steel, and even stainless steel find wide application
with this process. Many kitchen utensils, pots and pans, kettle bodies etc. are made with this process.
This process is often done manually as the forces involved are relatively small but can be automated.
During spinning the thickness of the material remains practically same and the product is obtained by
changing the shape. Thus the final surface area of the product is practically same as that of the „blank‟,
the raw material, used.

SHEAR AND FLOW FORMING are processes which are very close to spinning, but with the main
difference that the thickness of the blank, the raw material, is changed by shearing or flowing, thus the
names shear and flow forming. Here the diameter of the blank usually remains unchanged. Naturally as
shear and flowing of the material is involved, the forces required for these operations are much greater
than for spinning. Accordingly it is difficult to carry them out manually and usually power operated
machines are used. These may even be numerically controlled and applied to form parts from very small
sizes to very large with diameters of several meters and also with thicknesses such as 25 mm even. Very
heavy duty machines are available to handle such heavy jobs. Many products ranging from vehicle rims,
caps for large containers to brass casings for cannons are some typical examples of the use of these
processes.

STRETCH FORMING & EXPLOSIVE FORMING: A ductile material subjected to a tensile force
will deform plastically within its plastic range. Thus if a blank is held from its rim and a tensile force is
applied using a punch ram, it can be made to stretch. By controlling the deformation and by application
of forces within a confined space of a mould required shapes may be obtained. As the item size increases
the mould size too has to be increased. However when it comes to very large items spanning several
meters making required mould with the matching punch will become a practical problem. However the
mould part alone can be made easily using even simple materials such as concrete. The application of
force too can be carried out using shock waves from controlled detonation of explosives. Water often
may be used as a media for the shock wave. Further, variations of this process may be done using rubber
as the material for punch, or even by application of force hydraulically. These aspects will be discussed
in detail later.

Machining (or Metal Removal) Processes

Pressure die casting and Cold forging of metals and alloys, and Injection and Die moulding with plastics
usually produce items of required final dimensions, needing hardly any, or very little, further processing
to get the require exact final shape or dimensions. However, most of the other processes need at least
some material removal to get the exact final shape, dimensions and surface finish. Further many
products can be made, and in some instances only by machining.

In machining processes material is removed from unwanted location to obtain the required dimensions.
This is done by a chip formation process. Two essential factors for machining are that the tool must be
harder than the work piece (usually about three degrees on Rockwell C scale), and there should be
relative motion between the tool and the work piece. When a pressure is applied on the work piece with
the harder tool, the tool will indent into the work piece and relative motion will cause material to get

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sheared off the work piece. This relative motion can be obtained by moving the tool while the work
piece is stationary, or by moving the work piece while the tool is stationary, or with both the tool and
work piece moving. This motion could again be linear or rotary for both or either of them. Material
removal may be on a cylindrical surface (inside or outside), a flat surface or may be as holes or grooves
of different shapes or may be to part off one from the other

Machining operation has to be so selected and controlled to obtain the required surface finish such as
surface roughness (or smoothness) and texture needed. It may be needed with heavy material removal
but with acceptable roughness of the surface, or may be required to be finished to a fine surface. These
are usually carried out in „general machine shops‟, and is usually known as machine shop practice. Let
us consider what the common machines available are, and the common machining operations that are
often encountered.

As design engineers or as engineering designers we are not much concerned about how steel or any other
material is made from its ore or raw materials. That is mainly the concern of metallurgists. The raw
material that is coming to a workshop or a machine shop is usually in the form of Bar stocks, Tubes,
Billets, sections such as angles, channels, I beams etc., or Plates and Sheets. The first operation involved
in a machine shop therefore is to part a material piece of required size from the large stock or piece.
Though shearing operations, which will be discussed in detail later, may be carried out in some instances
particularly when very large amounts are needed, or „flame cutting‟ may be used particularly with large
diameter stocks or with plates, usually it involves a machining operation. This is called Sawing.

SAWING may be done manually using saws when only a few pieces of small sizes are needed, or using
sawing machines when the numbers are large or when large sections are involved. The type of saw and
the saw blades to be used depends on the material to be sawn and also the shape of the sawn item
needed. Basically the „Tool‟ which is the saw blade in this instance, has to be harder than the work piece.
Thus to saw a piece a Timber or a plastic even a mild steel blade would do. But if we want to saw a mild
steel piece the saw blade has to be a better one usually High Speed Steel (HSS) or so. The saw type may
be Carpenters saws, Hacksaws either manual or for power operated machines, Band saws for band
sawing machines, or Jig and Fret saws for such light duty operations or even Chain saws for timber and
particularly when cutting across logs. Basic operation in these sawing processes however is the same in
that the material is removed in the form of chips at every tooth of saw in engagement with the work
piece.

BROACHING is a machining process somewhat close to sawing but where a relatively large amount of
material is removed in one stroke of the tool. In a saw all teeth are of equal height and width. Now if the
heights of teeth are increased progressively, the depth of the cut will also be increased as the tool
progress. In addition if the width (or thickness) of the teeth are also increased the width of the cut will
also increased. This is the basic mechanism in broaching. However in a broaching tool not only cutting
but equalisation zones are also available to ensure quality of the product. Thus it is possible to get a
much wider and a deeper cut in one stroke in broaching. However as the material removal rate then is
much higher than in sawing the stresses involved as well as the total force to be applied too is much
higher. The tool and the machines are accordingly designed. This process finds wide application in
cutting grooves, internal keyways in gears and pulleys etc. and also in manufacture of gears.

Once the required size of raw material is parted off by sawing (or by other means) it has to be subjected
to other machining operations to obtain the required final shape. Some times certain items such as
casting may be brought to the machine shop directly for other machining operations without the need for
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sawing. A very common machining operation very often needed in manufacturing is to make a hole in
some location of the work piece. This is usually done by ‘Drilling’

DRILLING is the operation of making a hole in a work piece. The machines used for drilling depends
on the type of drilling, material in which drilling is to be done and also the size of the hole needed.
Drilling invariably involves a drill bit. Timber and soft plastics may be drilled even with a simple MS
steel drill bit using even a manually operated (carpenter‟s) drill, though often electrically operated hand
drills are used. When „Masonry‟ works are to be drilled, a masonry drill bit, which is characterised by a
hard metal (usually carbide) tip brazed on to a steel shank, has to be used and invariably an electrically
operated hand drill of sufficient power has to be used. When larger work pieces of steels or other harder
metals or alloys are to be drilled „Pedestal Drills‟ are used. Very heavy items are better drilled with
„Radial arm drills‟. Machines such as lathes can also be used for drilling. These aspects will be discussed
later.

BORING: The size of a holes that are drilled are often confined to about 25 mm diameter or in extreme
cases to about 35 mm. Extremely large and very heavy drill bits have to be used for larger diameters and
other than in very rare instances and highly specialised works, this is not practised. Instead larger
diameter holes are produced by „Boring‟ an existing or already drilled hole. Here a specially made tool
called a „boring tool‟ is used. This is often with adjustable diameter. Boring can indeed be considered as
an internal turning operation. Though theoretically boring can be done with any drilling machine too, in
practice it is confined to heavy duty drills. Boring is often done in lathe machines too. Special purpose
heavy duty boring machines are also available to handle very heavy duty borings when required in large
scale. „Jig borers‟ are special purpose boring machines of very high precision used to carry out (drilling
and) boring operations in Jigs, Dies and Moulds, and similar high precision works. It must be kept in
mind that boring cannot be done directly and it is always necessary to have a hole already drilled, or
already available as perhaps in a casting, for boring to be carried out.

REAMING: Holes that are drilled or bored are not of very good surface finish. When the surface finish
has to be improved, and particularly when exact dimensions of the holes are needed, the bored hole is
subjected to a fine machining operation known as „Reaming‟. Special tools called reamers, somewhat
similar in size to drills bits but where the machining edges are on the circumferential surface instead of
the edge in drill bits, are used. When the holes are of large diameters special reaming tools of adjustable
diameter are used. These will be discussed in detail later.

THREAD TAPPING: There are instances where internal threads are needed in holes to fix fasteners
such as bolts or studs etc. This operation of producing threads inside a hole is called „Thread tapping‟
and is usually done manually using tap sets. However when large scale repeated items are involved
special machines such as „nut tappers‟ may be used. When the threads are formed on the outside surface
of an item such as a bolt or a stud it is called thread cutting or forming depending on the process used.
When few items are to be threaded a lathe or a „die nut‟ is used to cut them. But in mass scale operations
such as in bolt manufacture, a thread rolling process is often used.

TURNING (LATHING); is one of the most common machining operations. Here a cylindrical or an
axi-symmetric surface is obtained by machining an object while being turned around its axis, and thus
the term turning. This operation is usually done in a ‘Lathe machine’. Lathe machine however may be
used to face a surface as well as drilling, boring (indeed boring can be considered as an internal turning
operation) etc, and in certain instances even for grinding with simple adaptations using a tool post
grinder. All these operations are sometimes called „Lathing’. Lathe is a very versatile machine. There
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are many special purpose lathes such as „Facing lathes‟, „Turret lathes‟ etc, and may be modified using
attachments to carry out copying operations etc, and CNC versions are also now very common. These
will be discussed in detail later.

SHAPING is a process where flat surfaces, with or without grooves are machined in work pieces. Here
a tool is reciprocating with cutting or material removal being done during forward stroke and with a free
return stroke. After every stroke the work piece is advanced perpendicular to the direction of movement
of tool and thus the machining operation progresses. Once one layer of material is accordingly removed
the work piece is raised relative to tool thus starting machining of another layer. In addition to flat
surfaces several types of grooves such as rectangular, or V shape and some times even dovetail shaped,
etc can be cut with this process. Keyways in shafts are often machined by this process and even internal
keyways such as in gears, pulleys or hubs etc can also be machined with shapers. Since this process
shapes the surface the process is called ‘Shaping‟ and the machine used ‘Shaper’. High material
removal rates can be obtained with this process.

PLANING: As it is the relative motion between the tool and the work piece that is needed for
machining, instead of the tool moving with work piece stationary (the primary motion) as in the case of a
shaper it is possible to move the work piece while the tool is kept stationary. Process adopting this
principle is called ‘Planing‟ and the machine ‘Planer‟ as this is mainly used to obtain a plane surface.
Instead of the tool operating in a horizontal plane it is possible to carry out this operation with the tool
moving in a vertical plane as well. This type of machines are called slotting machines and are often
used to cut slots of different shapes and for different applications.

MILLING: In shaping and / or planning operations tool has to pass though the whole length of the work
piece in the direction of the tool motion and cannot stop halfway on the work piece. Thus a shaper
cannot cut a groove only in part of the length of the work piece. Also in operations such as cutting
„dovetail‟ shaped grooves in a shaper the tool has to be positioned several times and is a tedious process.
To overcome these difficulties „Milling machines‟ can be used.

In milling machines the tool is rotating unlike in the case of shaper where it is reciprocating. In milling
the work piece is fed into the rotating tool which is a multiple tooth cutter. Often the desired shape is
obtained in a single pass and very good surface finish can be obtained yet with high material removal
rates. Basically milling machines are categorised as „vertical‟ and ‘horizontal’ and machines ranging
from simple and versatile to highly specialized machines for mass production. In vertical milling
machine the tool rotates on a vertical axis while in the horizontal milling machine it rotates in a
horizontal axis. Further in horizontal milling machines in addition to a single tool, a number of tools may
be „ganged‟ on the „arbor‟ thereby enabling complicated contours spanning a relatively large area of the
work piece being machined in a single operation. These will be discussed in detail later.

GRINDING: All above processes remove material with single or multipoint tools and the surface
roughness depends on the depth of cut. To obtain a much finer finish depth of cut of each tool point has
to be very fine. Further as the tool has to be harder than the work piece considerable difficulties may be
encountered in getting a tool material of required hardness when machining hard or hardened materials
such as found in case of Dies and Moulds, and also in making or sharpening machining tools. Thus the
process of grinding is developed. Here a very large number of fine grinding media particles, called grit,
are embedded in a suitable matrix with required porosity so that each particle or grit act as a separate
tool point. As grit can be obtained in very fine sizes the finish obtained can also be very fine. Further to

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machine very hard materials, we can use grits of materials harder than it. Even diamond powder can be
used. This process is called grinding

Surface Grinding: When Grinding is carried out on flat surfaces it is called surface grinding. This may
be done with the grinding wheel rotating, as primary motion, either in a horizontal axis or a vertical axis,
with the work piece(s) either reciprocation or rotating. Thus there are 4 alternative configurations
possible, and to be selected depending on the work piece and the grinding parameters.

Cylindrical Grinding: In case the surface to be ground is cylindrical, as often encountered particularly
after turning, it is called cylindrical grinding. Often the work piece may be mounted on chuck, or using
centres with the grinding wheel rotating in a parallel axis. Though both the work piece and grinding
wheel are rotating in this case, they rotate in such a way that the surface speeds are different and the
relative speed is suitable for grinding.

Centreless Grinding: However when grinding with the work piece mounted on a chuck or centres, the
total axial length of the work piece cannot be ground in one operation and often resetting is needed. This
can be overcome by allowing the work piece to be dynamically supported using a guide and a backing
roller or with two backing rollers. The backing rollers, in addition to supporting, provide a braking
action as well so that the required relative velocity is obtained.

There are several other miscellaneous grinding methods as well grinding machines to cater for different
needs. These will be dealt with in detail later.
HONING: When a much finer finish than that can be obtained with grinding is needed a process called
„honing‟ is used. This too is basically a grinding process but the grit used is much finer and are pasted on
to suitable bases (sticks) and fitted into a tool which can control (adjust and set) the distance between
such sticks (or the diameter) infinitely. Thus unlike a simple grinding wheel this can be used with any
size of bore.

LAPPING: In grinding and honing the grit is still bonded with a bonding agent. Thus the „size‟ of the
grit that can be used have certain limitations. If a finer grit is needed, say to obtain a much finer finish,
then the grit can be mixed with some mineral oil or so and applied with a light cloth or a soft stick etc to
carry out process similar to grinding. This is called „lapping‟ and this is widely used as a final finishing
operation e.g. valve grinding in IC engines.

Assembly Processes
As discussed earlier the components that are made have to be assembled together to form the required
item or product. Assembly may either be rigid, where all degrees of freedom of the components are
completely prevented and once assembled will form a rigid unit, or with partially restricted freedom of
motion. Let us consider the frame of a bicycle. Here several steel components are assembled together by
welding to form a rigid frame. On the other hand in a hub assembly the outer is free to rotate while
restricted from moving axially. Even in the case of a spring loaded ball point pen the inner „inc tube‟ is
allowed to move back and forth axially while all the other degrees of freedom are restricted. Bearings,
slides etc fall in to this category.

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The principal methods of assembly are by „Mechanical means‟, „Metallurgical processes‟, and „Adhesive
methods‟

MECHANICAL MEANS of assembly include fitting or assembly using elastic properties of materials,
and with Fasteners such as Nails and Screws, Bolts and Nuts, Studs, Rivets etc. Use of spring effect is
often used in latching type of assembly and to keep components in position when the applied stresses
and forces are rather small and especially when quick opening or dismantling is needed. All the other
methods can withstand relatively high loads and are selected according to materials and application.

METALLURGICAL PROCESSES are usually used when rigid joining is needed. These are called
metallurgical methods as the bonding here is metallurgical. Most common is the „Welding‟. „Brazing‟
and „Soldering‟ are the other two methods.

Welding involves metallurgical interaction of the molecules of the two parts being joined and for this
the material has to be brought to a temperature above re-crystallization point so that the molecular
migration is facilitated. However this can be done with same or metallurgically very similar materials
only. This may be done using gasses to obtain the required temperature and possibly pressure is also
applied to assist the process, in which case it is referred to as ‘Gas welding’. If an electric arc is used to
obtain the required heat it is called „Arc welding’. During the high temperatures involved the work piece
at the location of welding has to be protected from atmospheric oxygen to prevent oxidation and / or
burning of the materials. This may be accomplished using different fluxing and or protection methods.
These methods such as „Plasma arc‟, MIG‟, „TIG‟ etc. will be discussed in detail later.

Brazing is a method used when the two components to be joined are not metallurgically similar or
compatible enough for welding or when welding cannot be used due to other reasons such as the
possible damage to the component by the high temperatures developed during welding. Here we use a
third material, usually brass, to bond with each of the two items separately and thus bond them together.
Temperature used here is much lower

Soldering is a process very similar to brazing but that the third material used is a low melting alloy of
Lead and Tin. Soldering may again be „Hard‟ or „Soft‟. When strength is more important hard type is
used while soft solder is used in electronic industry.

ADDHISIVE BONDING too is a bonding process but here there is no metaullurgical bond. Use of
„Gum‟ is the simplest example. Basically bonding agents are of three types: viz. water based, solvent
based and Epoxy based. „Gum‟, „PVA‟ etc. are good examples of water soluble bonding agents. Here the
bonding occurs through evaporation of the water and the resultant hardening of the agent. In solvent
based adhesives the solvent gets evaporated off causing the bonding. Proprietory rubber solutions and
solvent cements used to join PVC pipes are good examples of this type of bonding. In epoxy base
adhesives two components, usually known as resin and hardener, are mixed together and this will harden
through a chemical reaction thus bonding the components together. Araldite, Epifix etc. are some
examples of this type of bonding agents.

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Forming vs. machining:

In forming material is displaced from one location to another to obtain the required shape and no, or very
little, material is removed or lost. On the other hand in ‘Machining‟ material is removed from unwanted
locations to obtain the required shape. For example consider how a simple bolt can be made. It is
possible for us to take a bar stock of diameter same as that of the head of the bolt then machine off the
excess material off the shank and then cut the threads. On the other hand we can take a bar stock of
diameter same as that of shank, but of a length slightly larger than that of the finished bolt, deform one
end to form the head and then roll the threads on the shank. In this case no material what ever is
removed, or volume constancy is retained and the length of the bar stock can accordingly be calculated.
The other main advantage of forming is that the grains are not cut unlike in machining and work
hardening properties can be used with advantage to obtain superior properties from a raw material which
is much cheaper. However, forming needs specialised machines and also dies and tools made. Thus is
suitable only if the quantity to be produced is large enough to justify such investment on dies and tools
and also the required heavy presses and machinery are already available. Accordingly forming processes
are often used only when mass scale production is needed.

On the other hand machining needs only relatively simple machines and often termed general workshop
machinery such as lathes, drilling machines, shapers, milling machines etc only. These are general
purpose machines used for production of a wide variety of items. Machining is a must when one off item
or a relatively small number of items are to be made or when very specials and complicated shapes are
needed. Also finishing operations such as grinding are also machining operations. Very often even
formed items, such as hot forged products, do need finish machining to size, or to obtain required holes
etc. Manufacturing is almost impossible without machining.

Powder Metallurgical Processes

Powder metallurgical processes are another technique use in manufacturing engineering. Instead of
being a competitor for the traditional processes, this could be considered a complimentary process used
for making components with special materials and properties and find wide application in making
tooling and tooling materials such as hard carbides, ceramics and also for producing porous materials.
This comes very handy when two or more materials which do not alloy or where the melting point of
one or more constituents is very high are to be combined in a product. Here often near final finish is
obtained, but there are occasions where subsequent machining may be involved.

Main constituents usually come in the form of powders, e.g. Tungsten carbide. This cannot however be
melted to cast into required shapes, or be forged, to be used as tools such as cutting tools or forming
dies. Thus the powder is mixed with a binding agent, say Cobalt, then packed, compacted and sintered
(heated to a temperature sufficient to melt the binding agent and cooled while still under pressure) so
that the molten bonding agents spreads over the hard particles and bond them together. Same process
could be used with mixtures of powders thereby making it possible to obtain the advantageous
characteristics of such different materials in the same product. Compaction density determines the
density as well as the porosity and thus can be used for high compaction density items as well as for
making porous items used in applications such as special bearings and filter materials etc. The
proportion of hard particles to bonding agent determines the hardness. There are special methods such as
„Isostatic hot pressing‟ etc. used to obtain very high compaction densities.

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These processes will however require specialized equipment such as high capacity presses, controlled
atmosphere furnaces in addition to facilities to make the required powders. Therefore these methods
cannot be used for general purpose or day to day work, but are used exclusively for specialized products.
These will be discussed in detail later.

Composites
„Composites‟ is another important area in manufacturing engineering. Compositing is a process used to
combine advantages of two or more materials or components and make one item or a product. Wood is a
natural composite of cellulose fibres held together with a lignin matrix. Another simple case is
reinforced concrete. Concrete alone is good in compression but is rather poor in tension, while steel is
good in tension. Thus both these are used to produce reinforced concrete which is good both in
compression and tension. „Thermostatic controls‟ made by bonding of two alloys with different
coefficients of thermal expansions is another example of composites. Polyester resin and fibre glass is a
very common composite having wide applications with its mouldable property combined with the
strength imparted by glass fibres. Carbon fibres too are used in special applications such as in aircraft
engineering. It is possible to combine metals, timber etc as well with other materials in making
composites with required properties. A recent application of this principle is in making high pressure
pipes and fittings, particularly for hydro power applications, using low pressure capacity PVC pipes and
reinforcing them with fibre glass/resin/steel wires.

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Chapter 3:
CASTING PROCESSES - THEIR APPLICATIONS
& LIMITATIONS
As „design engineers‟ and „engineering designers‟ we are concerned mainly on Metal and Alloy
Castings, which find wide application in manufacture of engineering products, and not on concrete and
similar castings often found in civil engineering applications. Components as referred to in chapter 1 can
be manufactured by the processes Casting, Forming and Machining, and then put together with the
assembly processes described. Though the examples given as „Components‟ in chapter 1 are very small
in size, it is not necessarily be so always. There can even be very large components such as beds and
bases of machines, say e.g. a bed of a large lathe machine, or a frame of a drop hammer, base of a Radial
arm drill. All these are coming as one casting and are „one component‟ of that item the machine. Another
very common application is in casings which need the assembly of components in it, and thus very good
rigidity, such as gear box casings etc., and also in IC engine blocks. Casting find wide application in
manufacture of many civil engineering items such as Pipes and Fittings, Gullies and Gutters etc. Most of
these are „Ferrous‟ castings and mainly cast Iron. On the other hand non-ferrous castings find wide use
in ornamental applications as well as many precision engineering applications. For example ornamental
and decorative uses may range from simple brass and bronze castings such as „Oil lamps‟, aluminium
castings such as „Valance boards‟, aluminium alloy castings such as decorative chairs, tables etc.
Engineering applications may range from very fine items such as light and precision gears and other
moving parts often found in office equipment, electrical equipment bodies such as in drills, grinders etc,
electric motor casings, to carburettors in petrol engines etc often made of zinc/aluminium alloys.

Fundamentals of Casting Technology

As briefed in chapter two basic technology of casting is to introduce a material in its fluidic state to a
cavity, made to the shape of the component needed, allow it to harden inside the said cavity known as
the „mould‟, and remove the item once it is hardened.

Open moulds: In extremely simple products where one surface is flat and can accept considerable
surface shrinkage and distortions the cavity may be made in an open manner with the flat surface on top.
Material to be cast may be introduced to this open cavity from top and allowed to solidify. However if it
is introduced in molten state oxides formed will float on to the top flat surface - which may later form
the bottom surface of the product. Further, shrinkage during solidification may cause material to be
sucked in from the top flat surface leading to depression in some locations. On the other hand if the
material introduced is made fluidic by mixing two components, e.g. „plaster of paris‟ mixed with water
to required consistency causes the material to expand and may cause bumps on the top flat surface.
Many resins, particularly polyester and related colourless resins, and epoxies too may be introduced in
its fluidic state which is not the molten state. However resins are mostly used either for ornamental or
decorative purposes or in combination with (or for bonding) fibre materials in which case they are often
referred to as composites (which will be dealt with in detail later).

Closed moulds: However, most engineering products are of rather complicated shapes and the material
is also converted to fluidic state through melting. Indeed, ability to handle complicated shapes as one
component is one of the main advantages of casting. In such case the mould invariably is made of two
parts, put together to form the cavity. Then as the cavity is closed, provision must be made to;
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a). introduce the material in to the cavity,

b). avoid entrapment of air and gasses,

c). provide extra material needed in molten state to compensate for the shrinkage.

Provision of theses facilities depend on the type of casting, say; „expendable‟ or „permanent mould‟ etc.
In expendable moulds, say sand moulds, the two parts of the mould made separately in mould boxes are
placed together and clamped, while in reusable or permanent moulds the cavity made in two portions,
usually in metal, are clamped together. The mating surfaces or the lines of two mould parts are called
„parting surfaces‟ or „parting lines‟ of the mould. As the component is removed from expendable
moulds, say; sand moulds, by breaking the mould, taking out of the item poses no problems even when
there are re-entrant shapes or cavities. However with reusable moulds which are only parted again to
remove the component, has to be designed with due consideration given for above aspects.

Some of the main attractions of castings are;

 Even complicated items, which otherwise would have needed assembly of a number of separate
units, can be manufactured as a single unit, with or without the need for high precision.
 Suitability for products needing high rigidity and ability to absorb shocks and vibrations. (This is
particularly so with cast Iron)
 Ability to make precision items and also items with high strength to weight ratio. (Particularly
with Al, Mg, and Zn alloys)
 Suitability for production in small batches as well as in large numbers (depending on the
process).

While the main disadvantages are;

 Complicated nature of the process needing to make patterns, moulds etc, (for sand castings) and,
 Need for expensive machinery and moulds etc in case of pressure type of castings.
 Problems associated with casting defects which sometimes may be apparent or observed only at
the last stages of manufacture thus compelling expensive rejects.
 Shrinkage problems and associated residual stresses.

Classification of Castings
Ferrous and Non-ferrous castings: One method of classifying castings is based on material being cast.
Many metals and alloys can be processed through casting. Yet a very high share of castings are of
ferrous based which cover cast iron, and steels including a wide range of alloy steels, and are often
referred to as „ferrous‟ castings. Other metals and alloy castings are often referred to as „non-ferrous‟
castings.

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Expendable and Permanent Mould Castings: Another often used classification is based on the type of
mould used. Most of the cast iron, brass and bronze castings are carried out in expendable sand moulds
which get destroyed during the casting process and thus each casting need a separate mould. This is the
common method used in casting high melting point materials as mould material such as sand only can
withstand the high temperatures involved. As the mould cannot be reused in this type of casting they are
called „expendable mould‟ castings. On the other hand when castings are to be done with materials with
relatively low melting points, such as Aluminium and its alloys etc., a suitable material may be found
which can withstand the temperatures involved and thus can be reused. These types of castings are often
called „permanent mould‟ castings. Strictly speaking this is a misnomer as no mould is really permanent.
It is really a reusable mould and that too has its life time like anything else in this world.

Gravity and Pressure Castings: Many a castings are carried out by pouring the molten material to the
mould under gravity. This is especially so with large items as well as with expendable mould castings,
one reason being the inability of the mould to take high pressures. Thus the material flow to sharp edges
and re-entrant shapes etc., are some what limited and very fine details often cannot be obtained with this
process. If a high pressure can be applied to the molten material inside the mould while it is still in liquid
state, then material can be made to flow into any intricate shape and also other problems such as voids
can be eliminated. Thus the mould also should be sufficiently strong to stand up to such pressures.
Application of such pressure is done by injection under pressure in pressure die castings, and by using
centrifugal force in „centrifugal castings‟. The first type where only gravity is used to pour material to
the mould is called “Gravity‟ casting and the latter where pressure is used are called „Pressure die
castings‟.

Defects in Castings:
To carry out a casting a mould cavity is needed. Design of the shape of the cavity is a specialised process
and incorrectly designed cavity may lead to certain defects in the casting. The material then has to be
melted and poured to the said cavity. Thus proper melting and pouring practices are essential to ensure
proper quality of the casting. The molten material then has to get solidified within the confines of the
cavity. Castings should be properly designed so that the solidification and the resulting shrinkage will
not lead to internal porosity, voids or cracks. Castings must be so designed that after solidification it can
be removed from the mould. Though this does not pose serious problems in the case of expendable
moulds where the moulds are broken apart and destroyed after each casting, in the case of reusable
moulds special care must be taken about this aspect at the design stage of the product itself. Once the
casting is removed from the mould it has to be cleaned and often finished with subsequent machining
processes. Extra metal attached at the location where material enters the mould and in risers and at
parting lines have to be removed and some times certain holes or surfaces may have to be machined.
These requirements must be kept in mind at the design stage itself to ensure a good and economical
casting.

It is not intended here to go in to details of casting defects and how to overcome them as needed by
specialist foundry engineers. However design engineers or engineering designers should have a clear
understanding of the problems that may be associated with casting and the precautions thus have to be
taken at the design stage itself. Often it is advisable to consult foundry engineers if the casting is rather
complicated, expensive, or when they are needed in large numbers as a modification which results even
in a slight reduction in cost of one unit might lead to a substantial saving due to large numbers involved.

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Internal Porosity or Voids are the most common problems in castings. This may be due to entrapped
air during pouring (which could be prevented by proper pouring practice and proper mould design to
avoid turbulence during pouring and thus the entrapment of air), or due to release of dissolved gasses.
Significant amount of gas can dissolve in many liquid metals which will be released with the
solidification of these metals. Such rejected gasses often form bubbles leading to what is known as gas
porosity. One technique used to avoid this is by preventing the gas being dissolved in molten metal. This
may be achieved by performing the melting under a vacuum, or in an environment of low solubility
gasses, or under protective flux which excludes contact with air. Other technique is to remove dissolved
gasses from the molten metals before pouring. This may be achieved through vacuum degassing where
the molten metal is subjected to a low pressure environment. Passing small bubbles of inert or reactive
gasses through the melt where the dissolved gasses enter the flushing gas and carried away is also
effective. This is known as gas flushing. Yet another technique is to make dissolved gases to react with
something to produce a low density compound which will float to the surface and can be skimmed off as
dross or slag, e.g. Oxygen can be removed from copper by addition of phosphorus or from steels by
adding aluminium or silicon.

Non filling of critical areas is another problem which may be due to incorrect mould design which does
not facilitate quick flow of the molten metals to all locations, or due to entrapment of gasses at certain
locations, and/or insufficient temperature of the melt to compensate for the heat losses during flowing or
improper preheating of moulds.

‘Cold shuts or Misruns’ is another defect which might lead to very serious subsequent repercussions.
Here the material being poured starts solidifying before it reaches the intended location and the material
flowing subsequently may flow over the already molten material creating layers with weak bonds
between them. Remedial measures are similar to the earlier case.

Entrapment of Dross or Slag is another serious defect. Here the dross or slag, which are low density
oxide formations, which shouldn‟t have been allowed to flow with metal flows with it and gets
entrapped during solidification leading to very weak internal locations. Proper methods of avoiding
oxidation such as use of fluxes, skimming the dross as well as tapping the molten material from the
bottom often can avoid this problem.

Design Considerations in Castings

It is not intended to go into details of mould design, gating systems, riser design, fluidity and pouring
temperature etc., which are the details to be handled by the foundry engineer. (Theses details, if needed,
can be obtained from standard hand books and text books on the subject). However the product design
engineer or the engineering designer has to take certain precautions when designing an item for casting.
It is intended to discuss these in brief here.

Allowances to be incorporated into a casting pattern: Though making the pattern may be considered
as the responsibility of the foundry engineer, it is always better if this aspects is well recognised by the
product designers as well and given due consideration at the design stage itself. In casting the material
shrinks during solidification and cooling inside the mould cavity. Thus the dimensions of the cast
product will be smaller than that of the cavity.

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Shrinkage allowance thus has to be given due consideration. This will depend on the material as well as
the pouring temperature, and also to some extent on the shape of the product.

Machining allowance is another important factor as very rarely does a casting being used without any
machining at all. Often it is not all the surfaces that need machining. For example in a gear box housing
the bearing and oil seal cover surfaces, and the mating surfaces of the casing and cover, only are the
surfaces that may have to be machined while the other surfaces may be kept „as cast‟. If subsequent
machining or assembly processes involve use of jig or fixtures the surfaces involved in aligning in such
jigs and fixtures may have to be machined in addition to the locations that need machining for the
product‟s proper functioning, e.g. bearing housings manufactured in large scale need machining of the
base as well as one side for proper seating and alignment inside the jig or fixture for the subsequent
machining of the bolt holes and bearing surfaces. Machining allowance depends in addition to the
material, the type of product as well as the casting process, e.g. sand casting have a relatively rough
surface needing higher machining allowance where as permanent metal mould nonferrous castings
particularly pressure die casting may not need any machining at all.

Draft allowance is also needed to ensure release of product from mould particularly when reusable
moulds are to be used

CASTING DESIGN; To get a product of required quality, at the lowest possible cost, the product
designer should give careful consideration to several process requirements, and if possible it is always
advisable for him to work closely with the foundry engineer at the design stage itself. Very often minor
and readily permissible changes in design could simplify and facilitate the casting of a component and
also could eliminate or reduce the number and severity of defects.

Parting line location is very important, especially when segmented or separable moulds are used. Proper
location of parting line may be able to reduce the number of cores needed, use of effective gating,
dimensional accuracy as well as the ease of casting. These will be discussed in detail later.

Minor changes in Component design may much facilitate the casting thus reducing the cost. Changes
may be incorporated to design to eliminate the need for, or reduce the number of cores, or easy removal
through accommodation of „drafts‟ to facilitate removal of the component from the mould, The figure
given below amply illustrates this. Common sense, rather than hard and fast rules are to be applied here.

Thickness of material in different sections is another important aspect to be considered. Portions of a

casting having high ratio of surface area to volume will cool rapidly and may be stronger and harder than
the other regions. Heavier sections will cool more slowly and unless special precautions are taken may
develop shrinkage cavities and porosity and large grain structure. The best for a casting is to have
uniform thickness in all directions, which however is not practicable. Thus section changes, when
needed, must be made as gradual as possible and with proper curvatures avoiding sharp edges.

Avoiding Stress Concentrations and Hot Spots is also very important in designing castings. Two main
problems may be faced when section of castings intersect. One is the development of stress
concentrations which can be reduced by providing generous fillets. However excessive fillets may lead
to augment the second problem known as hot spots. Thick sections produced by intersection of sections
of casting will cool more slowly and would lead to abnormal shrinkage causing hot spot areas which
have a high tendency to develop serious defects such as porosity and shrinkage cavities, which can be

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sites of subsequent failures and should be prevented wherever possible. Both these may be avoided, at
least to a certain degree by providing cored holes at such sections if the product so permits.

Intersecting ribs can cause shrinkage problems and thus the product designer should try to locate the
ribs to avoid this as much as possible. Continuous ribs as shown in figure will lead to contraction in
opposite directions as the ribs contract leading to possible, and frequent, cracking at intersections.
Staggering of ribs as shown allows permissible distortions to occur providing relaxation to high residual
stresses that would otherwise induce cracking.

Large unsupported areas should be avoided in all types of castings, since these regions tend to warp
during cooling. This may lead to problems with surface flatness, necessitating large amount of material
removing machining, and particularly important in instances such as machine bed tops, e.g. wood
working machines such as planers etc. This aspect should be given high consideration in design of
machine tool tops which need rigidity as well as vibration absorbing properties.

Minimum section thicknesses should also be given due prominence at the design stage itself when
castings are contemplated. These can be obtained from standard hand books or from text books on
casting. Specific values are rarely given as they tend to vary with the shape and size of the casting. The
type and composition of the material used as well as the foundry practice used too affects these values. It
is recommended that the design engineer gives his attention to this matter too during design stage itself.

Casting Processes
It is not intended to go into details of casting processes here, but only to the extent for the design
engineers to appreciate the capabilities and limitations of the various casting processes and also the
precaution and care that has be taken, so that they can select the appropriate manufacturing process at the
design stage itself, and design the product in the optimum manner to suit the selected process, or in other
words they can properly „design for manufacture‟.

SAND CASTING is the most widely spread casting process covering from relatively small items in to
very large items, from very simple to high level technology, and applicable to a wide variety of materials
both ferrous and nonferrous. Here sand is used as the moulding material with small amount of clay for
bonding the grains and a little water added to improve cohesion and mouldability. A pattern is made to
the required shape of the product and sand is packed around it. Mould is usually made in two pieces if
the pattern has to be removed to obtain the required cavity for pouring. An opening called a „sprue hole‟
is cut from the top of the mould through sand to pour the melt. The sprue hole, the top of which is made
large - called basin - to ease pouring of melt without spill, is connected to a system of channels called
runners which in turn are connected to one or more cavities through openings called gates. Material
poured to the sprue flows along the runners and enters the cavity (or cavities) through the gate(s). Extra
material has to be poured to ensure availability of sufficient materials to compensate for contraction, and
thus extra holes are made to accommodate such extra material. These are called „risers‟. Location of
risers should be properly designed taking into account the sizes and thicknesses of different section of
the casting. Flow is due to gravity. After solidification of the cast material the mould is broken and the
casting removed. Thus a new mould is needed for each casting and this, therefore, is an expendable
mould casting process.

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Pattern, and selection of its material of construction, is very important and depends not only on the
requirements of the accuracy of the component but also the number of components to be made. If a
material which evaporates off when the melt is poured is used the mould can then be made in one piece,
or „full mould‟. Often „expanded polystyrene‟ is used to make this type of pattern, but any other material
with similar properties of evaporating off without taking appreciable mould space can be used. (In
investment casting wax patterns are used). Wood patterns are by and large the most widely used,
especially when the quantities needed are not that high. Ease of construction is one of the major
attractions of wood as a pattern material, but its dimensional stability is not all that good particularly
with tendency to warp and swell with moisture and humidity and also wear off with repeated use.
Special timber species are often used. Metal patterns are much difficult to make and expensive but are
more stable and durable. Many metal and alloys can be used and ease of machining is important as the
shapes here are to be obtained by machining. Hard plastics such as urethanes are also used when strong
organically bonded sands are involved as they tend to stick to most of the other pattern materials.
Patterns may be of „one piece‟ or solid patterns which are the least expensive and widely used for simple
castings. With complex shapes this may be in multi-piece construction and introduction of cores etc.
may also be necessitated in instances where components with holes are involved. There are „split
patterns‟, „match-plate patterns‟, „cope-and-drag patterns‟ etc., but are not intended to be discussed here,
and are left to the foundry engineer.

Scope and Limitations of Sand Castings: sand casting is the most widely used and can be applied for a
vast range of products from very small to very large, from simple to very complicated, from very simple
to highly sophisticated foundries, from ferrous to non ferrous such as brass, bronze, aluminium, Zinc and
a variety of their alloys etc. However as the pouring is only under gravity and thus blow holes and
internal defects, insufficient fillings (especially at low-tech end) etc., are some of the common defects
often observed (compared to processes using pressure for pouring). The surface is also relatively rough
(in comparison with metal moulds). Molten material may also „penetrate‟ between sand grains causing
mould material to be embedded in the surface of the casting. This often is caused by high pouring
temperature leading to excess fluidity, or coarse sand with uniform particles. On the other hand low
pouring temperatures may lead to incomplete filing and cold shuts etc. „Hot tears‟ or cracks can form in
castings made from alloys with large freezing range. Products of sand casting covers machine frames
and beds, manhole covers and gullies, gears of various shapes and sizes, pulleys, casings and impellers
of water pump, turbines and other hydraulic equipment, engine blocks, fan blades and many other cast
iron, steel, aluminium, Zinc and alloy products.

Green-Sand, Dry-Sand, and Skin-Dried Moulds: Most common method used particularly for simple
castings is the green-sand method where the mould material is composed of sand with a binder of clay,
water and additives. Tooling cost is low and entire process is rather inexpensive and suitable even for
relatively small and low-tech foundries. Almost any material can be cast with almost any size and
weight, and shape and complexity. Limitations of the process relate to rough surface finish, poor
dimensional accuracy – which may need subsequent machining depending on the application, and other
problems relating to moisture that is present in the binder. For all applications where these can be
tolerated, this could be the best and most economical choice.

Problems of green-sand process can be reduced by heating the mould to a temperature of around 125o C
or more, and baking until most of the moisture is driven off, thus strengthening the mould and reducing
the formation of water vapour and other gasses when molten metal is poured to the cavity. This is known
as „Dry-sand mould‟ process. Biggest hindrances for its wide applicability are the long time needed for
drying and the need for ovens etc., and the resultant added cost. A compromise is to produce a mould

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where only the skin exposed to metal is dried and this is known as „Skin-dried mould‟. Gas flames are
often used to dry the surfaces usually to a depth of about 10 to 15 mm. This is very important when the
pour is at a higher temperature, e.g. steel casting where the pouring temperatures are significantly higher
than with cast iron. However this is not very easy with cavities of complicated shapes. Additional
binders such as molasses, linseed oil, or corn flour may also be added to the skin sand.

Sodium Silicate-CO2 moulding: Here the mould and cores are strengthened by addition of 3% to 4%
sodium silicate, which is a liquid inorganic binder, the resulting soft and mouldable mixture is packed in
usual manner, and CO2 is passed when it hardens in a matter of seconds. This reduces the mould making
time significantly though involves additional expense.

SHELL MOULDING is a process that yields better surface finish and higher accuracy than sand mould
casting, and higher production rates with possibility of mechanization and adapt for mass production.
The basic difference here compared to sand moulding is that the mould halves are made as shells and
supported for pouring. In this process sand is mixed with a thermosetting plastic which acts as a binder
when cured to form the hard shell. As the thermosetting plastic cures at higher temperatures and the
mixture at the time of curing should have the shape of the cavity or part of it, best way to supply the heat
is using the pattern itself. This can best be achieved by using a metal pattern. This pattern is heated to a
temperature around 150 to 230o C, and the mixture of sand and plastic binder is made to contact with the
hot pattern. This is easily done by containing the sand plastic mixture in a suitable box like container,
placing the heated metal pattern on the top open side of the container and inverting it so that the sand
plastic mixture will be dumped onto the hot metal pattern. This forms a solidly bonded strong shell about
3 mm to 4 mm thick. When the container or box is inverted excess sand falls back to the box leaving the
partially cured „shell‟ on pattern. The pattern with the shell portion is then placed in an oven for a few
minutes to complete the curing process. The fully cured and hardened shell part can now be easily
removed from the metal pattern. A shell part of the other side of the pattern is similarly made. These
shell parts are then glued or clamped to produce the mould. This shell mould though is now having the
required shape is still not strong enough to take the total weight of the molten metal and the resulting
stresses. Therefore it is backed by surrounding it with metal shots or sand in a flask like container. The
pattern itself is made with the required facilities for moulding and thus the completed shell is now ready
for pouring.

The shells made this way have exceptional dimensional accuracy (0.08 mm to 0.13mm). Sand used for
shell moulding is finer than ordinary foundry sand. This bonded with plastic resin on a metal pattern
produces a very smooth surface needing hardly any subsequent machining perhaps except at connection
locations from sprue or runner and to risers. Reliability and consistency of the product too is very high.
This process can be used from relatively small number of castings to fully automated set ups for very
large production runs. As a metal pattern is needed this process may not be very appropriate for one of
item, unless the surface condition and dimensional accuracy demands it. But for runs ranging from
moderate quantities to very large this process is a real competitor. However the part size of this process
is limited but even items such as engine blocks for two stroke engines could be made with this process.
Size range usually confined from about 25 gm to about 10 kg, with thicknesses from about 1.5 mm to
about 6 mm with tolerances about 0.5%, and surface finishes of 0.025 to 0.075mm. This amply shows
the applicability of this process for relatively precision work.

VACUUM MOULDING is another process that gives exceptional surface conditions and freedom from
moisture related defects. Here a thin sheet of suitable plastic is formed to the mould shape using a
vacuum. Two halves of the mould clamped together and supported in a sand box to provide required

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strength and rigidity. Pouring is done while maintaining a vacuum in both cope and drag (top and bottom
sections) segments. Process however is relatively slow and thus not suitable for mass production.
However for development work this is a very good process.

PLASTER MOULD CASTING is a process that is highly suited for castings where thin sections and
fine details are expected. The mould material used here is „plaster of paris‟ or „gypsum‟ (calcium
sulphate). Additives such as talc or magnesium oxide help prevent cracking and reduce the setting time
while lime or cement helped to control expansion during baking. Sand is often used as „filler‟, and if
strengthening is needed glass fibre or any other suitable fibres can be used. Mould material is mixed with
water and additives to form slurry and immediately poured over pattern and allowed to set. Plaster
expands during hydration enabling the mould material to go into all details and contours of the pattern,
and produces a hard solid which can be relatively easily stripped from the pattern. Pattern is usually
made of metal, but even rubber patterns can be used particularly when re-entrant or complicated angular
shapes are involved to ensure easy removal without damage to the mould cavity. Mould at this stage is
having high percentage of water and it is very important to bake it to reduce the moisture to permissible
levels. This can be done in a simple oven. The mould halves are then assembled and poured as usual.
Due to low thermal capacity and conductivity of plaster, the cooling of the melt is slow enabling the
metal to flow into intricate corners and replicate thin sections and fine details. This is one of the major
advantages of this process. However the main disadvantage is that only low melting point (usually
nonferrous) alloys such as of Aluminium, Zinc, Magnesium, Lead, Tin and copper can usually be cast in
plaster moulds. In addition to such fine detailed items, journal bearing sleeves out of bearing material
can be cast easily using plaster moulds. Sizes ranging form about 25 gm to about 8 kg, with sections as
small as 0.6mm with surface finishes from 2 to 5m can be obtained with this process.

CERAMIC MOULD CASTING is similar to plaster mould casting except that the mould can
withstand higher melting point materials. Ceramic slurry is used as the mould material and formed
around withdrawable wooden or metal patterns. Thin sections with fine details can be produced with this
process and ferrous and high temperature castings can be carried out as well as low melting alloys. Size
may range from several about 25gm to several tons with thickness limits around 1.5 mm with no
maximum. Process however is more expensive than plaster mould. Precision items such as milling
cutters as well as precision vanes etc can be made with this process.

GRAPHITE AND RUBBER MOULD CASTINGS: Certain highly reactive materials, such as say
Titanium may chemically react with common reusable mould materials such as MS. In such instances
Graphite moulds, made by combining powdered graphite with binders such as starch and water or even
cement, then compacting around the pattern and firing after removal from pattern, at around 1000C to
consolidate the graphite can be used. Mould has to be broken to remove the casting. Small castings of
low melting alloys around 250C can be cast on artificial elastomer (Rubber) moulds. This is
compounded in liquid form and poured over the pattern to form a semi rigid mould. These are especially
suitable for intricate and re-entrant shape components as the mould is sufficiently elastic to be removed
from such intricate and re-entrant patterns.

Investment Casting
This is a very important and very old casting process used by jewellers and dentists and recently
expanded its scope to very sophisticated areas such as aeronautical and spacecraft industry for the
manufacture of jet engine blades and rocket components. Biggest advantage of this process is that high
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melting and difficult to machine alloys can be cast to high precision and complex shapes so that
subsequent machining is eliminated. Types of materials as well as the complexity of items that can be
cast with this process is almost unlimited, and as a result finds very wide application in industry even
with modern and sophisticated.

Master Mould material used here is nearly the same as that for ceramic moulding. However this has a
marked difference from other casting processes in that the pattern too, in addition to the mould, is
expendable in this process. That means a separate pattern has to be made for each piece, and thus the
pattern should be easily made. Easiest way to make the pattern is by casting it with a very easy to cast
material. Ideal material is Wax. Thus in this process a „Master pattern‟ which is a replica of the item is
made from an easy to work materials such as wood, plastic, soft metal etc., or sometimes the item itself
can be used as the master pattern if it so permits. From this master pattern a „Master mould‟ is made
using standard processes. Low melting metals are often used, and two component epoxies too find wide
application in this process. This mould is then used to make expendable patterns out of wax, by pouring
molten wax into the mould or even by injecting if very intricate details are to be captured. Wax solidifies
rather quickly, and can then be removed from the mould.

Multiple pattern mould: As the items involved here are of relatively small size they are usually cast in
multiples. Several or a number of such wax patterns, depending on the size, are then connected or
attached to a central sprue and runners to form a complex yet single pattern. This is then coated with
investment material usually by dipping in slurry of such material which forms a smooth and thin layer
thus very well replicating the fine details. This is then re-dipped in the slurry and coated with a layer of
sand. This process is repeated till the required thickness is achieved. Once the investment material is
hardened the pattern is removed by melting off the wax by placing it upside down in an oven. Any
residue left too is subsequently vaporised. The mould is usually preheated before pouring to ensure all
wax is evaporated, mould is fully cured to provide sufficient strength, to ensure proper temperature of
the mould to ensure ready flow of the melt to all intricate corners of the mould. Depending on the poured
material and ceramic mixture this preheating may be from 550C to 1000C. Once the melt is hardened,
the mould is broken to remove the series of components attached to each other, break them off and grind
the connection points to finish them off.

Capabilities and Advantages of this process are mainly the excellent surface finish, very high
dimensional accuracy, ability to cast very intricate and complicated shapes which normally are not
possible with other methods, ability to cast almost any alloy including those involved in aerospace
products, and very good appearance with no flash or parting corners. Not only low melting alloys of
metals such as Aluminium, Zinc and Copper etc., but also Steels, Stainless steels, and also Nickel and
Magnesium alloys etc., as well as precious metals can be cast with this process. Items may be as small as
2 to 3 gm up to about 5 kg can usually, and occasionally even up to about 40kg may be handled with this
process, while the thickness range is from about 0.5 mm to about 75 mm. This is very useful for difficult
to machine materials when accurate shapes are needed.

Limitations and disadvantages of this process are mainly the limited size and the high cost of patterns
and moulds. Time taken to complete the process as well as the labour costs too may be relatively high.

LOST FOAM CASTING is a process developed to overcome some of the common problems and short
comings associated with other casting processes. All these processes need a pattern to be made, which
often is very costly and may be a substantial portion of the total product cost. Further the need of the
pattern being removed from the mould, other than in investment casting, often demand some form of
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design compromise. Thus to overcome these shortcomings, especially when only a few items are needed,
the pattern is hand cut or machined from „polystyrene‟. This light weight material can be easily cut with
a knife or with a heated wire and so making a pattern with this material is rather simple. Polystyrene
pattern is retained in the mould during pouring, which then melts and burns off by the molten metal,
leaving almost no residue, and the poured material then totally fills the cavity. If a relatively large
number of components are needed this process can be modified to obtain the patterns required by steam
expansion of polystyrene beads into a suitable mould.

This method can be applied for casting almost any size, both with ferrous and non-ferrous materials.
This is specially suited for producing small quantities of relatively large and complicated item, in an
economical manner.

Permanent (or Re-Usable) Mould Casting

All the processes so far discussed use a mould which is used only ones, though the method of mould
making might have been different, and are known as expendable mould castings.

When dealing with materials with relatively low melting point, and when needed in large quantities, a
mould can be made from a material which can withstand such temperatures. Often Mild Steel, Gray Cast
Iron, and Bronze are used as the mould material, and in some applications Graphite and other materials
are also used. Often Aluminium, Zinc, Magnesium and there alloys, and also bearing metal and alloys of
Lead, Tin and even Brasses are cast with this process. Power distribution components such as „line taps‟,
„Tension connectors‟ and many automobile components are made with this process. With the use of
graphite as the mould material even Iron and Steel can be cast with permanent moulds.

As the mould has to be machined from a material as mentioned above, which is costly, this process is
useful only when the components are required in large numbers. However, the surface finish is very
much better than most of the expendable mould castings, as the surface of the mould can be finished to
very high levels which is reflected in the product. Sometimes the mould surface may be given a very
high finish through a process such as plating, in which case almost the same finish may be obtained in
the product. Further very fine details can also be obtained particularly with processes where pressure is
applied in introducing the molten material into the cavity.

GRAVITY DIE CASTING is the term used for permanent mould casting when the material is poured
to the cavity under gravity. The mould parts, usually two, are often hinged to facilitate quick assembly or
rapid opening and closing. The mating surfaces must be well machined to ensure no leak. The mould is
initially preheated, closed and clamped, and molten material is poured under gravity. However for
subsequent castings the heat retained by mould from previous casting is sufficient to retain the required
temperature. Too rapid casting may sometimes lead to overheating of the mould and thus rapid wear, or
too long intervals between castings to lowering the temperature beyond required levels. So the casting
rate has to be so adjusted that the mould temperature retains within correct levels. Dimensional
accuracy in the range of 0.25 mm can often be maintained. The products are usually of sound quality and
reliability too is high. Faster cooling rate with metal moulds provide stronger products than with sand
castings and also directional or special properties may be imparted by selective cooling. On the other
hand this process is limited to lower melting point alloys, with very short life in case of cast iron and
steels castings. Higher the melting point of material being cast, lower the mould life. Mould complexity
is also restricted as the rigid cavity does not offer collapsibility to compensate for contraction during
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cooling. The mould is opened as soon as the cast is solidified to overcome formation of hot tears
otherwise possible. Since the moulds are not permeable, unlike in case of sand castings, provision for
venting must be made during mould design.

SLUSH CASTING is a slight modification to above process where the molten material is poured out of
the mould within a short time of pouring when only a thin shell is formed. This enables to cast hollow
items usually of ornamental nature such as lamp bases and components etc., where good surface details
are replicated but the wall thicknesses may vary substantially.

Casting under Pressure

Though the above methods which use only gravity for pouring may be good enough for many
applications some products may demand pouring under higher pressures. This is particularly so when the
product needs replication of surface contours very well together with proper wall thicknesses and
complete filling of webs and ribs etc. Certain products may need precision holes „as cast‟ and perhaps
even fine threads incorporated in the casting. Such items invariable need high pressure filling of mould
cavity to obtain such details. Thus permanent (or reusable) mould casting methods have been developed
to cater for such needs as well.

Low Pressure Permanent Mould Casting is one such method. Here the material is transferred to the
mould with the use of a low pressure gas in the range of 0.3 to 1 kg/cm2. Molten material is contained in
a ladle inside a sealed chamber, on top of which the mould is mounted with a passage (tube) made of
refractory material connecting the mould opening to the molten material dipping to a distance little
below the centre. When the gas (often air) pressure is applied to the chamber, molten material rises
through the refractory tube to the mould cavity. Thus molten material is not in contact with atmosphere
at any stage of filling the cavity and therefore this process is especially attractive for „clean‟ casting
rapidly oxidising materials such as aluminium. Further mould can be filled in a controlled manner
without turbulence further improving the quality. Directional solidification, if needed, can also be
achieved thus imparting further advantageous properties when needed. As the applied pressure
continuously feed the molten material it compensate for shrinkage as well. As there are no risers and that
the extra material in the refractory tube flows back when pressure is released the yields too are high,
generally in the range of 85%. Mechanical properties too are about 5% better than conventional
permanent mould castings but the cycle time is a little higher.

Vacuum Permanent Mould Casting can be considered as a modification of the earlier process where
instead of gas pressure, vacuum pressure is used to suck in molten material to the mould cavity. All the
advantages of the previous process are evident in this as well and in addition gas entrapment is further
reduced due to vacuum. This can be applied advantageously to thin walled castings producing excellent
surface quality. Castings in the range of 200 gm to about 5 kg are common with this process and the
mechanical properties may be about 15% superior to that of conventional permanent mould gravity
castings.

PRESSURE DIE CASTING differs from above two methods in that molten material is forced or
injected to the cavity under high pressure and maintained under this pressure during solidification. As
very high pressures are involved cast iron is not well suited as a die material for this process and it is
hardened alloy steels suitable for hot work that are used for these dies. Often dies contain multiple
cavities (i.e. several cavities of the same component) or combination cavity (where impression of more
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than one item in a single cavity). They may contain water cooling passages to ensure that the die does
not reach unnecessarily high temperature during continuous operation. Also the dies may be much
complicated with retractable cores and „knock-out pins‟ etc., to facilitate removal of complicated
products. However the closing surfaces have to be perfectly mating and very well clamped to ensure no
leak during high pressure injection of molten material to the cavity.

Due to the high injection pressure involved fine details and precision can be easily obtained. Many fine
components in machinery, such as even gears (without the need for further processing) etc., as well as
carburettor chambers etc., is made with this process. This gives enhanced strength properties, excellent
dimensional precision and surface quality and texture that no subsequent machining, often even holes or
threads etc., too, is not needed. Usually it is nonferrous metals and alloys that are made with this process
but ferrous castings too may be produced with required modifications for tooling. It has been found that
many different alloys of Zinc, Copper, Aluminium and Magnesium often have much superior properties
when pressure die cast. The product size may range up to about 10kg and more than 500 mm on any
side. There are two principal methods of injection of the molten material to the die cavity under pressure.
They are „hot chamber‟ or „gooseneck injection‟ and „cold chamber‟ or „plunger injection‟.

Hot Chamber (or Gooseneck) type incorporates a hot chamber where molten material is contained,
inside of which a gooseneck type of a plunger is positioned. Lower portion of the chamber containing
the plunger is immersed in molten material and is connected through a „gooseneck‟ shaped passage to
the die inlet. The plunger which projects above the molten material is usually operated with a connected
piston mechanism through pneumatic or hydraulic means (see fig). Die halves are very well held in
position using toggle clamps. The molten material is injected here from the same chamber where it is
melted without further handling or transfer of molten metal, thus making this method comparatively
safer. However this process cannot be used for materials with higher melting points due to limitations
posed by melting chamber materials. Further with steel chambers molten aluminium tends to pick up
iron during extended time of contact and thus is not recommended for aluminium if iron contamination
is not acceptable. However this process finds wide application with Zinc, Ti, and Lead based alloys.
Production rates of more than 15 pieces per minute are quite common.

Cold Chamber (or Plunger Injection) method is normally used for Aluminium, Magnesium and
Copper alloys and for materials not suitable for hot chamber method. Unlike in the hot-chamber method
material is melted here in a separate chamber and a measured quantity is fed into the injection cylinder
(or shot chamber) and is injected to the die cavity with a plunger operated often pneumatically,
hydraulically or even mechanically (Fig ). Pressure is maintained during solidification process. Molten
material has to be transferred (or poured) to the injection chamber for every cycle, which is often done
manually, and in works with better facilities using mechanical handling devices or robots. This transfer
of molten material poses a serious safety risk and special safety precautions thus have to be taken.
Though the production rate here is a little lower than with hot chamber process, this too can achieve
reasonably good cycle rates. A slight modification of this process employs a second plunger to advance
and provide the additional material needed to cater for shrinkage, thus ensuring better quality.

Here the rate of injection is fairly fast so that hardly any time for entrapped air to escape, thus running
the risk of blow holes and porosity. To reduce this thin vents about 0.1 to 0.15 mm wide are often
allowed along the parting line. This in turn causes formation of fins or protrusions which has to be
subsequently trimmed. This may however be done in the same trimming die used to remove the sprues
and runners.

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A recent improvement of this process uses heated manifolds and injects material directly into the cavity
using mini-nozzles thus eliminating sprues, gates and runners.

Excellent surface finish and dimensional accuracy can be obtained with this method. Aluminium, zinc,
magnesium and copper based alloys are often produced with strict tolerances in the range of 3mm/m
with this process. Minimum sections that are often obtained with this process are: Aluminium – 0.9 mm,
Zinc alloys – 0.6 mm, Magnesium alloys – 1.25 mm and Brass and Bronze – 1.25 mm. Size range from
25 gm to about 7 kg is quite common. Very precision items including precision holes and even fine
threads can be cast without need for further machining or processing. Finish is very good that fine gear
wheels etc are often produced ready for use.

Centrifugal Casting
Quite contrast from gravity and pressure castings, the material can be made to flow in the required
direction using centrifugal force. There are several processes employing this method.

Horizontal Axis Centrifugal Casting is one of the oldest centrifugal casting methods, and is used for
making pipes and similar axi-symmetric products where the inner surface is without contours. The
process is schematically shown in the fig. . The mould in this case is the outside shape of the axi-
symmetric product and molten material is poured to the mould which is revolving about an almost
horizontal axis with a slight tilt lowering from the pouring side to the other to enable the molten material
to flow along the axis. While it is flowing along the axis the centrifugal force due to rotation forces the
material radially outwards thus forming a shell or a cylinder. Pouring end and the other end are suitably
covered to prevent material flowing out of the mould length. Any axi-symmetric contour provided in the
mould will be taken by the material and the thickness can be controlled by controlling the amount of
material poured. Inner surface is cylindrical. Outer surface shapes such as hexagon octagon etc., can also
be obtained. The mould, which is usually metal, is continued to rotate till the material is solidified.
Speed of rotation depends on the diameter, material being cast etc and may vary from about 250 rpm
even up to 3000 rpm. Cast Iron and Ductile Iron pipes and pressure vessels are the most common
product with this process but can be used to make items from any material that can be cast and is freely
flowing.

Vertical Axis Centrifugal Casting is a modification of the above method where the mould is rotated
about a vertical axis while the pouring is from top as shown in fig. . While the outer surface can take
any contour, the inner surface here will be, strictly speaking, a paraboloid just like the water surface we
get when we rotate a bucket of water. However with the increase of speed of rotation the inner side
become more and more parallel. Unlike with horizontal axis centrifugal casting, the product length (or
axial height) here is not very high, and usually applied only for relatively short components. When the
product length is short taper in the internal surface is not very evident particularly with high speed
rotation. Brake drums, cylinder liners etc are common items made with this process. As there are no
sprues, risers or gates the yield is much higher than conventional casting and more than 90% are
reported. The centrifugal force improves the quality of the product.

Low Speed Centrifugal Casting is another modification of this process. Here while the poring is as in a
conventional casting with pouring basin and gate etc, centrifugal force generated from relatively low
speeds of rotation is used to assist material flow. Since the rotation speeds are low, relatively heavy and
bulky moulds, made in the conventional manner with cope and drag and contained in a flask can be used.
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Often several moulds are one on top of the other with common pouring basin. This is some times known
as “Semi-centrifugal Casting” as well.

Centrifuge Casting is yet another modification of the above processes. Here a number of separate
mould cavities are so arranged offset from the axis of rotation and usually at equal diameters. These are
connected through sprues etc., to a central pouring reservoir. Molten material poured to the central
reservoir is forced by centripetal forces, as in centrifuging, to the cavities. Fig. . Sound casting of very
intricate shapes and thin walls can be made with relatively low speeds of rotation. One of the special
advantages of this process is that the moulds can be made of rubber or epoxies and thus is adaptable for
quick mould making and suitable for short runs as well. This method is some times used as an adaptation
in investment casting where pouring to investment casting trees is assisted by the centrifugal action. This
method produces smooth surfaces and excellent details, and often used with materials such as pewter and
zinc etc.

Continuous Casting is a process used often for making Billets for further processing and some times for
some axi-symmetric items. As this has limited applications and is of very limited use for design
engineers, it is not discussed in detail here.

Casting of Plastics
Plastics are often processed as mouldings, which will be discussed in the next chapter. However there
are a few plastics suitable for casting. What is required is the monomer availability in the form of a syrup
where the catalyst and other additives that can be mixed heated and poured into a cavity at atmospheric
pressure. Polymerization takes place inside the cavity. However this process is confined, in industrial
applications, to a few plastics such as Nylon 6, Epoxies, and Acrylics.

Some advantages of cast plastics are ability to produce perfectly contoured items, excellent sound and
vibration damping qualities, and self lubricating properties. Basic cast nylon formulation is suitable for
heavy duty applications demanding high strength together with resilience, wear resistance and
particularly where self lubricating properties are welcome in situations where provision of lubrication is
not possible or difficult due to other design considerations. Several inches thick gears weighing nearly
200 kg, yet assuring void free uniform structure are also made by casting. Nylon weighs only about one-
seventh of steel and combined with its self lubricating and smooth running properties is a serious
challenge and a competitor to steel in such applications. Surfaces are harder, more crystalline, and more
wear resistant as the cooling at surfaces are much faster than the core. Mould costs for casting of plastics
are much lower than those required for moulding.

Some limitations for the use of nylons are there as it readily absorbs water. However this is often
confined to surface and with thick items is not an appreciable problem unless is continuously immersed
in water. Further there are working limitations on temperature to about 1100 C and thus applications
where exposed to atmospheres such as steam are to be precluded.

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Chapter 4:
MOULDING PROCESSES
In chapter 3 we were dealing with materials which can be heated and brought to the state of a liquid.
These are often metals and alloys, and when heated can be converted to the molten state. However there
are certain other materials, e.g. Plastics (PVC, Polythene etc.) which when heated becomes soft, but
further increase of temperature does not melt them but simply decompose, or char them. Such materials
then cannot be „Cast‟, yet they can be formed, or rather deformed, to required shape when they are at
their plastic state, usually hot, and becomes hard retaining the new shape when cooled back to room
temperature. This process is known as „Moulding‟. Shaping certain materials, say Resins or Epoxies,
often with fibre reinforcements, to the required shape using a mould, is also called moulding. Here the
hardening takes place through a chemical reaction and often at room temperature. This is a process used
mostly for making composites and therefore will not be discussed here, but will be taken up later under
composites. Moulding as said above therefore deals mainly with plastics.

PLASTICS are numerous, but can basically be divided in to two categories, ‘Thermo plastics’ and
„Thermo-setting plastics’.

Thermoplastics when heated to the required temperature will soften and can be formed easily. With the
correct temperature regulation its viscosity can be so controlled that it can even be injected. When it
cools it retains its shape. If it is heated again it again becomes soft and plastic and can be formed again,
and this process can theoretically be repeated again and again, but in actual practice certain degree of
degradation occurs at each cycle and thus the number of cycles are not indefinite. Examples of some
common thermoplastics are; PVC, Polythene, Polycarbonates, Polyamides, Polystyrene, Polypropylene,
Poly-formaldehyde, ABS, Cellulose, and Nylon etc.

Thermosetting plastics, on the other hand, sets or polymerises when heated and the process is not
reversible. Once formed it cannot be reused for re-forming. One of the first thermo-setting materials
used in industry is Ebonite. New materials developed over the years are numerous. Some examples are
Amino resins (such as Melamine), Polyurethanes, Epoxies, Phenolics, Teflon etc.

Injection Moulding
This is a very common and versatile process used for the manufacture of a variety of items from
thermoplastics. The raw material, usually in the form of pellets or powder, is introduced to a heating
chamber where it is heated under controlled condition. As it is heated it is made to move forward and
injected to the mould. One alternative is to use a plunger as shown to push the material forward and
inject to the mould. Fig . Sometimes a „torpedo‟, which causes the material to spread, is used to mix the
material better. However, ensuring uniform heating throughout the cross-section may pose problems as
the heat is provided from the circumference of the cylinder. Plunger type machines are the old type and
are good for thermosetting plastics. However it is generally not used for thermo-plastics. To overcome
this problem and enhance material mixing and ensure uniform heating for thermoplastics, a screw
mechanism is used in the other alternative. Screw mechanism ensures not only better mixing of material
but also uniformity in heating. This material is then injected into a mould which consists of one or more
cavities of the required shape(s), with sprues, runners, passages gates etc. The flow of material is very
similar to that in pressure die casting. Here the screw, which is used to mix and convey the material

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forward whilst being heated, itself is used to force or inject the material to the mould. One alternative is
to push the whole screw forward, making an effective plunger from the screw itself.

The hot thermoplastic which is injected under high pressure to the mould is allowed to cool and solidify
inside the mould itself before the mould is parted and the component(s) taken out. If the mould is well
designed and made, particularly the gates, and has well faced mating surfaces, products can be obtained
where no parting lines or ejector markings etc are visible. Often threads and other fine details are also
perfectly replicated. Cycle time is rather low and the machines are usually automated where the only
thing to be done is to fill the raw material to the hopper from time to time. Trimmed off runners, sprues
etc can be crushed and often reused mixed with virgin material in certain proportions. With the wear of
mould, parting lines and ejector markings etc get apparent in the product and this is a good check about
the quality of the product as well as the manufacturer or brand.

Two-stage Injection moulding is another alternative, or rather a combination of the two processes used
especially for operation at high speeds for thin walled parts. As shown in fig. , in this process the
plasticization is done with a screw system while a plunger is used for injection. However this method is
not suitable for heat or shear sensitive materials as they may tend to degrade rapidly under these
conditions.

Moulds for Injection Moulding may be of Single or Multiple cavity types depending on rate, size, and
weight, and also the type of machine. Usually these are of two plate type as shown in Fig. . The
material when injected at its very soft plastic state enters the mould through the sprue and flows through
runners and gate(s) into the mould cavity, very much like in the case of pressure die casting. The mould
has to be securely clamped during the injection process due to the high pressure and the resultant high
force of separation acting on mould parts. Fast acting clamps suitable for high pressure have to be used
and may be done with hydraulic operation or by toggle mechanism. As a rough guide the parts which are
25 mm or less in depth may need about 20 MPa, while parts deeper than that may require 20 MPa + 5
MPa for each additional 25 mm of depth.

With the automated heavy injection moulders of the present day fairly large components of even a few
kilos can be moulded, e.g. heavy basins and buckets, bumper covers of vehicles etc., though very often
the products are less than a kilo. Small items of a few grams can be made even by small hand operated
simple injection moulders. Here a plunger is operated inside a cylinder which is heated with electric
heaters strapped around it. Raw material is inserted from the top and the plunger is operated manually.
Though heaters are thermostatically controlled, good experience of the operator is needed to ensure good
quality of the product with this manual process. But the cost of these machines is only a fraction of that
of automated injection moulders. Thus in many instances use of such machines by small and medium
scale producers of small components, which are not used in critical applications, become economically
competitive. Some examples of such items are various bushes used with legs of chairs and similar items,
bushes for electric fans etc.

Quality of Injection Moulded Items can be very high. If properly manufactured with well maintained
dies with proper gate designs and with the two mould parts perfectly aligned, seated and well clamped,
the product would be of extremely good finish which can be directly used for the final application
without the need for any subsequent rectifying or finishing operations. However in many instances it can
be observed that due to insufficient attention on one or more of the above factors the quality is badly
hampered needing post moulding attention. One of the most common defects is the flash and gate
markings which often will be removed with subsequent manual labour. Surface quality of the product
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too depends on the condition of the mould surface and extremely good surface finishes can be ensured
with well polished moulds.

INJECTION MOULDING OF FIBRE-COMPOSITES: This is a modification to the basic process

where plastic material is mixed with the fibre, often glass or carbon chopped to correct length, and fed
for injection moulding mixed with the required plastic matrix. Here the advantageous properties of both
the plastics and fibres are combined with the advantages of injection moulding. For example „impellers‟
for pumps are made with glass or even carbon fibre reinforcement achieving highly enhanced wear
resistance while being able to make intricate shapes at rapid rate and in large quantities. Component can
be very much lighter compared to their metal counterparts, yet can be stiffer than steel.

However, with products so shaped where two streams of flowing material has to be welded, as shown in
fig. , this process poses some problems at the line of welding as the fibre materials at the weld may not
orient well and may fail to mesh properly unlike the matrix plastic material. Further at sections where
there are sharp changes in the direction of flow of materials proper orientation of fibres may be affected.
Improper meshing of fibre may substantially reduce the strength of the component at weld line, even up
to 25% of the uniform sections. Thus special care must be taken when designing for this process with
fibre-reinforcement.

CO-INJECTION MOULDUING: This is yet a further improvement of the basic process where
components with an outer shell of different properties, say hard or wear resistant, can be combined with
a core of different properties, say toughness and/or rigidity through increased „I‟ of the section. With this
process items somewhat similar to surfaced hardened metal components can be produced with plastics.

In the simplest embodiment of this process two materials are injected to the mould one after the other by
shifting a valve. The surface or skin material cools rapidly and adheres to the surface of the mould
forming a dense and hard skin, which then gets filled with the core material often containing a blowing
agent. Skin properties such as thickness and hardness can be controlled by injection speed, material and
mould temperature etc. Modification of this process is available where two or three channels are
employed. Here both plastic melts may be introduced at the same time and allows better control of the
skin thickness.

Compression Moulding
This is perhaps the first method used for producing plastics in large quantities and now comes with
several modifications and refinements. In its basic form the correct amount of plastic granules or pellets
are fed from a loading chamber into the mould cavity. Mould is heated, usually with cartridge type
electric heaters placed as close as possible to the cavity but so distributed to ensure the best possible
uniformity in heating. A heated plunger then descends to close the die cavity and apply pressure. See fig.
. As the material gets heated and becomes plastic, almost fluidic, it is driven into all locations in the
cavity, including edges. The heat and pressure are maintained until the material „sets‟. Parts are removed
from the mould using ejector pins positioned to suit the product and to ensure non-distorted removal.

This process is mainly used with ‘Thermosetting plastics’ and thus curing or polymerisation takes
place inside the cavity at higher temperature and under pressure ensuring good quality of product. Cycle
time depends on the rate of heat transfer as well as the curing time of the polymer, and may vary from

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less than one minute to even half an hour in extreme cases. Thermosetting plastics too can be moulded
using this process but with certain modifications such a provision of cooling of the mould, often with
cold water circulation through the mould, for hardening the item. But the cycle time then will be much
higher.

There are basically three types of compression moulds, viz; Flash type, Positive mould, and Semi-
positive mould. In the first type flash may squeeze out between the punch and the die and thus has to be
subsequently trimmed. In the positive mould there is no flash but it has to ensure the exact amount of
material is fed into the mould cavity. In the third type the plunger movement may accommodate slight
difference at the expense of slight dimensional variation which often can be accommodated and even
cannot be detected.

The dimensional precision and surface conditions of items produced by compression moulding are very
high thus eliminating the need of any secondary operations or attention. This is suitable for parts
requiring high impact strengths and relatively simple shapes. If the component has thick sections
combined with long and thin sections problems may be encountered with flow of material. Typical
compression moulded parts include many household electrical fittings such as ceiling roses, holders, etc.,
and gaskets, seals and exterior panels for automotives, and a wide variety of interior panels in
applications such as aircrafts. Another advantage of this process is its ability to „mould-in‟ metal
components together with the plastic material. For example in the manufacture of electrical switchgear
often metallic contacts and connectors are „moulded-in‟ in position with the casing out of required
thermosetting material.

Modification of this process is used for forming fibre-reinforced plastics with both „thermo‟ and
„thermosetting‟ plastics. Products with versatility of plastics yet with advantages of Fibre materials can
be achieved by proper reinforcement of plastics with fibres, thus rivalling many traditional engineering
materials particularly metals.

TRANSFER MOULDING is a modification of the compression moulding process where preheated

material is transferred to the mould cavity. Preheating is usually done in a space just before and separate
from the mould cavity. Material is loaded on to the preheating chamber and when it achieves correct
temperature is transferred in to the closed mould cavity under pressure through runners using a plunger.
The three part mould with preheating chamber is shown in fig. . When the material is set the mould is
opened as shown and the moulded item is ejected from the mould cavity using ejection pins, while the
sprue and any residual material adheres on to the plunger and can be easily removed. In certain
alternative arrangements preheating is carried out in a separate chamber and is fed to the mould using a
screw arrangement. This could make the process more automatic.

While compression moulding process is comparatively simple yielding components which are free of
high stresses with relatively low mould costs, transfer moulding is well suited for making complex parts
with inserts as the fragile inserts are not shifted or damaged unlike in normal compression moulding, but
the transfer moulds are more complex and more costly.

ROTO-MOULDING (or some times called Rotational Moulding) is a process used for making
seamless hollow products a wide variety of shapes and sizes that would be difficult with any other
process, for example parts such as storage bins, refuse collector buckets, storage tanks, as well as
footballs, helmets and even doll parts. Boat hulls of more than 4 m length, cylindrical parts of 4.5 m

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diameter x 2.5m height, rectangular shapes of more than 1.75 x 1.75x 3.5 m are some of the larger items
that are made with this process. Part weights may range from 50gm to more than 100kg, while on
volume basis it may range from 15 ml to 4000 l, with wall thicknesses ranging from 0.75 mm to 12.5
mm.

In the basic process the product is made inside a closed mould that is rotated about two axis. Both
thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics can be used in this process. Material in the form of liquid or
powder is fed between the mould halves which are then clamped and rotated or spun about two axis
inside an oven. Heat causes the powder material to become semi-liquid or the liquid material to gel. As
the mould rotates the material is distributed on the walls of the mould cavity, see fig. .In contrast to
centrifugal casting, the material distribution here is solely through gravity and no appreciable centrifugal
force is acting. Permissible temperature range here is far more than that for injection moulding. When
the parts are properly formed the moulds are taken out of the oven and are cooled either by cold-water
spray or by water circulation inside the mould or by forced cool-air blast or a combination of two or
more of the above methods. The mould continues to rotate during the cooling cycle. Unloading is usually
manual though other mechanical or stripping methods may some times be employed. Sheet metal is
often used to make the large size moulds while cast aluminium is a common material used for smaller
size moulds. Fine details can be made to be replicated by electro or vapour depositing Nickel on the
mould.

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