INTERDEPARTMENTAL

SEMINAR

CASTING DEFECTS
Presented by :

Dr. Rutuja Dahiphale Dr. Arundhati Dilip Kapdeo

MDS 1ST MDS 1ST YR
YR Department of Conservative
Department of Prosthodontic, Dentistry and Endodontics
 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. DEFINITION

Click icon to add picture 3. CLASSIFICATION OF CASTING DEFECTS

4. DISTORTION
5. SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND
IRREGULARITIES
6. POROSITIES
7. INCOMPLETE CASTING
8. CONCLUSION
9. REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION
What is CASTING ?

It is defined as something that has

been cast in a mold, an object formed
by the solidification of a fluid that has
been poured or injected into a mold.
(GPT-9)

Casting is the process by which a wax

pattern of a restoration is converted
into its replicate in a dental alloy.
 CASTING DEFECTS

 A casting defect is an irregularity in the metal casting process

that is undesired. Some defects can be tolerated while others can
be repaired, otherwise they must be eliminated.

 Dental casting system aims to provide a metallic copy of the wax

pattern as accurate as possible.

 Nevertheless, a wide range of variables may influence the final

result. While casting dental prosthesis, problems frequently
observed are incomplete casting and internal porosity.
 Classification
 According to Phillips
 Based on type
• Distortion
• Porosity
• Incomplete or missing details
• Surface roughness and irregularities

 Based on location
• Internal
• External

Anusavice, Kenneth J., et al. Phillips' science of dental materials.11th edition.

  According to Rosenstiel
• Roughness
• Nodules
• Fins
• Incompleteness
• Voids or porosity
• Marginal discrepancy
• Dimensional inaccuracies

Contemporary Fixed Prosthodontics STEPHEN F. ROSENSTIEL, 4th edition

 Distortion
 Distortion of the casting is probably related to distortion of the wax
pattern.
Causes:
• Can occur from the time of wax pattern preparation to the time of
investing.
• During the investment procedure as investment hardens , distortion of
the wax pattern can occur .
Minimized by:
• Application of minimum pressure
• Manipulation of wax at high temperature
• Investing pattern immediately
• If storage is necessary, store in refrigerator
The direction of the sprue is another factor to consider.
The sprue former should be directed away from any thin or delicate
parts of the pattern because the molten metal may abrade or fracture
investment in this area and result in a casting failure.
 wax shrinkage + metal shrinkage = wax expansion + setting expansion +
hygroscopic expansion + thermal
expansion.
This equation balances the shrinkage (left side of equation) against the expansion (right side of
equation) that occurs during the casting process. If the final restoration is to fit the die, the
shrinkage and expansion during the casting process must be equal.

Distortion of the wax

Hardening of the investment
pattern

Setting and hygroscopic expansion of

investment produce non-uniform
expansion on the walls of the pattern

hygroscopic expansion : expansion as a result of the absorption of moisture

setting expansion : the dimensional increase that occurs concurrent with the hardening
of various materials, such as dental stone, die stone, and dental casting investment.
 Distortion increases when thickness of the wax pattern decreases.
 Surface Roughness
and Irregularities
 Surface roughness
Defined as relatively fine spaced surface
imperfections whose height, width and
direction establish the predominant surface
pattern.

 Surface irregularities
Isolated imperfections such as nodules that
are not characteristic of the entire surface
area.
• The surface of a dental casting should be an accurate reproduction of the surface of
the wax pattern from which it is made.
• Even under optimal conditions , the surface roughness of the casting is invariably
somewhat greater than that of the wax pattern from which it is made.
• The surface roughness of the casting is greater than the wax pattern from which it
is made, because of,
- the particle size of the investment and
- its ability to reproduce the pattern in microscopic detail
• Excessive roughness or irregularities on the outer surface of the casting requires
additional finishing and polishing whereas irregularities on the cavity surface
prevents proper seating of the casting.
 AIR BUBBLE
Small nodules on the casting are caused by air bubbles, that become attached to the
surface of wax pattern.

Removable but requires great expense of time and money.

Inside
AIR
BUBBLE
Successful removal is extremely difficult and often the
Outside
restoration will have to be recast.

The key to avoiding nodules is a careful investing technique, a surfactant, vacuum

spatulation, and careful coating of the wax pattern with investment. Castings made with
phosphate-bonded investment are especially prone to such imperfections,experience and
care are required to produce castings that are routinely free of nodules.
LARGE NODULES MULTIPLE NODULES

Produced by air trapped  Inadequate vacuum during investing

Improper brush technique.
during investing procedure
Lack of surfactant
Caused because of:
• Lack of surfactant/wetting agent.
• Improper brush technique.
• Inadequate vibration during mixing.
• Inadequate vacuum during investing.

Prevented by:
• Proper investment technique
• Vibration of mix or by vacuum mixing
• Application of wetting agent properly and correctly – important
that it should be applied in a thin layer.
 Water films
Wax is a water repellent

If investment becomes
separated from the wax pattern Water film

Space around
Water film may form irregularly the wax pattern
over the surface

Appears as minute ridges or

veins on the surface

Prevented by:
1. Use of wetting agent
2. Correct L/P ratio
 Under heating
If the heating time is too short

Incomplete elimination of wax residues

Hot alloy come in contact with carbon residue

Voids or porosities may occur in casting from gas formed

• Occasionally casting is covered with carbon coating- impossible to remove by PICKLING

Prolonged Heating or Over Heating
High heat technique

Decomposition or disintegration of the investment

Walls of the mold are roughened.

Product of decomposition are sulfur compounds, which contaminates the casting

Surface of the casting does not respond to pickling sometimes

Prevention-
When thermal expansion technique is used, the mold should be heated to the
casting temperature & never higher.
 Rapid heating
• Too rapid heating rate causes cracking of
the investment.
• These cracks produces a casting with fins
and spines.
• This condition is specially seen in
cristobalite investment.

Prevented by:
• Heat gradually, at least 60min from room
temperature to 700°C.
• Greater the bulk – more slowly heated.
 Liquid/Powder Ratio
 The amount of water and powder should be
measured accurately.

• Too little water- investment too thick & cannot be

applied to the wax pattern

• Too much water- reproduces rough casting.

 Casting pressure
• Too high pressure – rough surface of the casting

• Too low pressure – incomplete casting

• Average pressure – 0.10 to 0.14 MPa in an air pressure

machine. 3 to 4 turns of the spring in centrifugal casting
machine is sufficient for
small casting.
 Foreign Bodies
• Foreign body into mould causes surface
roughness.
• Any casting that shows sharp, well defined
deficiencies indicates the presence of some
foreign particles in the mould.
• They may be:
 Pieces of the investment
 Bits of the carbon from the flux
 Sulfur components from the
decomposition of the gypsum
investment and high sulfur content
torch flame.
 Pattern position
PATTERN SHOULD NOT PLACED TOO CLOSE TOGETHER

Expansion of wax is higher

than that of investment

Causing breakdown or cracking

of investment

PREVENTION- 3mm spacing

should be given
 Impact of metal alloy
Caused by:
• The direct impact of molten alloy on the weak portion of the mold surface, may fracture
or abrade the mold surface regardless of its bulk.

• This can lead to improper seating of the casting because the

depression/concavity in the mold reflects as a raised area on the
casting.

Prevented by:
• Proper spruing by directing the molten alloy at an angle of <90o to investment
surface.
• A glancing impact is less damaging and also avoids undesirable turbulence.
 Carbon inclusions

• Carbon from - carbon crucible

- carbon containing investment
- improperly adjusted torch

• Can be absorbed by the alloys during casting, results

in formation of carbides or visible carbon inclusion.
 COMPOSITION OF THE
INVESTMENT

• The ratio of binder to the quartz influences the

surface texture of the casting.

• A coarse silica causes surface roughness.

 Porosity
• The presence of voids or pores within a structure (GPT-9)

This can be internal/external.

Surface roughness

• Internal porosity not only weaken the casting- lead to secondary caries or
periodontal disease by accumulation of plaque at tooth - restoration
interface.
• External porosity may be a manifestation of internal porosity and can
cause discoloration of the casting.
• Although the porosity in a casting cannot be prevented entirely, it can be
minimized by use of proper techniques.
 Porosity
Classified as follows:

I. Solidification defects
A. Localized shrinkage porosity
B. Micro porosity
C. Suck Back porosity

II. Trapped gases

A. Pin hole porosity
B. Gas inclusion porosity
C. Sub surface porosity
D. Back pressure porosity

III. Residual air

 Solidification defects
• By premature termination of the molten metal
during solidification.
• Linear contraction of noble metal alloy changing
from liquid to solid is at least 1.25%
• Continual feeding of molten metal through the
sprue must occur to make up for the shrinkage of
metal volume during solidification.
• If the sprue freezes in its cross section before this
flow is completed to the casting proper, a localized
shrinkage void will occur in the last portion of the
casting that solidifies.
Porosity in the pontic is caused by- retained heat because of
its bulk and located in the center of the rings.

Prevented by-
• Adding one or more gauge sprues(18gauge) to area which
is far from the main sprue & extending laterally within
5mm of edge of ring.
• Decreasing the length of sprue.
• Increasing the melt temperature.
• Attach the sprue to the thickest portion of wax pattern.
• Flare the sprue at the point of attachment.

Localized shrinkage – occur near the sprue casting junction

 REMEDY # 1

Attach the large reservoir in the sprue of

thickness more than the thickest portion of the
pattern and as close as possible to the pattern
(1mm)
 Thickness of Maximum
sprue thickness of
pattern

Last to
solidify
Thickness of Maximum
sprue thickness of
pattern
 REMEDY #
2

Position the wax pattern in a “cold zone” of the

investment mold and the reservoir in the “heat

centre” of the casting ring.

 The coolest parts of the mold (cold zones) are the end of the ring
and along the ring periphery.
The hottest portion of the casting ring is located near the centre of
the ring (heat centre).
Limit the amount of investment covering the patterns to no more
than ¼ inch (6mm) & position the reservoir in the heat centre.
So the proper length of sprue is important to keep the pattern
away from heat centre close to the end of the casting ring.
 Suck back porosity
• suck-back porosity, another type of localized shrinkage
porosity, may also occur externally
• if a hot spot has been created by the hot metal impinging from the
sprue channel on a point of the mold wall , then porosity will be seen
in the interior region of crown.
• This hot spot causes the local region to freeze last and results in what
is called suck-back porosity.

Hot spot
 Impedance to flow

90º

Sprue

The entering metal impinges on to the mold surface at this point

and creates a higher localized mold temperature at this region
known as “Hot Spot”.
A hot spot may retain a localized pool of molten metal after other
areas of the casting have solidified.
This in turn creates a shrinkage void or suck back porosity.
 sprue
Importance of flared
Impedance to flow

90º
 Maximum impedance to flow
occurs when a Sprue former
Sprue former
makes an angle of 90º to the
pattern.

 The pattern should be placed

Continuity of flow at 45º

45º

Sprue former
 Occurs often on occlusoaxial / incisoaxial line angles that are not well rounded
and also when the sprue is attached at right angles to the pattern.
• Ideally, molten alloy located farthest from the sprue
should freeze first and molten alloy in the sprue should
feed the rest of the pattern, thus compensating for the
shrinkage as a result of the change of state.
• As long as the remaining alloy is in the liquid state and
the casting machine is rotating, molten alloy will feed the
solidified portion of the casting, thereby compensating
for the shrinkage.
• The next layer then solidifies, and this process continues
until all the shrinkage resulting from the change of state
is compensated for by the available molten alloy in the
casting, sprue.
• If solidification does not occur in this systematic manner
and a portion of the alloy in the sprue freezes before the
alloy in the casting, what is known as suckback
porosity occurs.
 Microporosity
• It is generally present in fine grain alloy castings when the solidification is
too rapid
• Occurs from solidification shrinkage.
• This is not detectable unless the casting is sectioned

Cause : Rapid solidification of the metal or casting temperature is too low.

Pin hole and Gas inclusion porosity
• Related to the gas entrapment.
• Characterized by spherical contour.

• Many metals dissolve or occlude gases in their molten state e.g. both copper and silver
dissolve O2 in large amount in liquid state.
• Molten platinum and palladium have a strong affinity for hydrogen as well as oxygen.
• On solidification of metal absorbed gases are expelled resulting in pinhole porosities.

• Also be caused by gas occluded from a poorly adjusted torch flame or use of oxidizing zone rather
than reducing zone.

• Casting is usually black, do not clean easily on pickling

• Microporosity voids: Irregular

• Pin hole & Gas inclusion : Spherical

• Gas inclusion: Larger than pinhole
 Sub surface porosity
 Caused by simultaneous nucleation of solid grains and gas bubbles at the first
moment that the alloy freezes at mold walls.

 When the molten metal comes in contact with the low temperature mold, the
outer layer coming in contact with the mold wall solidifies suddenly and makes a
skin of solid metal which is tenaciously adherent to the mold wall. When the
inner layer shrinks ,the outer covering of solid metal cannot be dragged along
with it. This leads to subsurface porosity.

Prevented by-
• Controlling the rate at which the molten metal enters the mold.
• Reduced by increasing the length of the sprue.
 GAS INCLUSION POROSITY

The larger spherical voids are caused by gas that is mechanically

trapped by the molten metal in the mold or by gas that is incorporated
during the casting procedure.

The gas could be occluded from poorly adjusted torch flame or by use
of mixing or oxidizing zone of flame rather than reducing zone.
 Back pressure porosity
Sometimes referred to as entrapped-air porosity.
• Present on inner side of casting.

• Produces large concave depressions.

• The entrapment is frequently found in a “POCKET”

at the cavity surface of a crown.

• Also found on the outer surface of the casting when

the casting or mold temperature is low, solidification
occurs before the trapped air can escape.
Caused by-
Inability of the air in the mold to escape through the
pores in the investment.
Note : A casting which has been subjected to back pressure is rounded at
the edges and lacking in detail

Rounded edges due to

back pressure
 CAUSES OF RESIDUAL AIR
Dense
modern
investment

Increased
distance
Clogging of between
mold with Trapped air pattern and
residual end of
carbon casting ring.

Inadequate
casting and
mold
temperature
 FACTOR # I. DENSE MODERN INVESTMENT

Phosphate
Gypsum
 Increased
Silicadensity
bonded αnd Inadequate
bonded porosity in the investment to vent
bonded
out trapped air.

 Investment materials in the increasing order of density and decreasing

order of porosity.

 Density of the material may increase with vacuum mixing and low L/P
ratio.
BACK PRESSURE POROSITY REMEDY I

When using silica bonded or fine grained phosphate bonded investments, a

vent sprue former 0.5 mm in diameter, should be provided to allow escape of
gases towards the crucible end of the mold.
BACK PRESSURE POROSITY
REMEDY
II

The end of the ring should not be completely covered by any

part of the casting apparatus.
In all cases the plate of metal that supports the end of the ring
should be perforated .
Dense layer of investment material is often created at the base
of the ring, particularly when the base of the ring has been closed
temporarily by a sheet of metal or glass. This dense layer should
scraped away to facilitate the escape of gases.
BACK PRESSURE POROSITY 2. INCREASED DISTANCE BETWEEN PATTERN
AND END OF CASTING RING

Even though, Gypsum bonded investment is porous, if

the thickness of investment at the extremity of pattern is
more than 6mm the porosity becomes less effective.

Remedy :
To assist the escape of gases, the investment materials between the
casting and end of the ring should be as thin as is consistent with
54
strength
BACK PRESSURE POROSITY METHOD TO ENHANCE VENTING OF GASES
 3.
BACK PRESSURE POROSITY 3. CLOGGING OF MOLD WITH
RESIDUAL CARBON

It is advisable to begin the burnout procedure while the mould is

still wet.

Water trapped in the pores of the investment reduces the

absorption of wax.

As the water vaporizes it flushes wax from the mold.

 INCOMPLETE
CASTINGS
Occasionally, only partially complete casting or perhaps no casting at all is found.

Cause: Molten alloy has been prevented from completely filling the mould.

 Factors that inhibit the mould filling are :

• Insufficient venting
• Insufficient casting pressure
• Insufficient alloy used
• Incomplete elimination of wax
• Lower L/p ratio
• Sprue blocked with foreign body
• Pattern too far from the end of the ring
• Alloy not hot enough so it is not able to
flow properly
• Premature solidification of alloy
 REASONS OF INCOMPLETE CASTING

Incomplete
melting of alloy

Too low casting

Insufficient alloy
force

Blocking
due to pre Incomplete
Poor castability
solidification in casting
sprue

Blocking of sprue due

Incomplete
to loose investment
dewaxing particles
 REASON 1
INCOMPLETE CASTING

INSUFFICIENT VENTING OF MOLD:-

Directly related to back pressure exerted by the air in mold.

If insufficient casting pressure is applied the back pressure

cannot be overcome, therefore pressure should be applied for 4

seconds. (The mold is filled and the alloy solidifies in 1sec, yet it

is quite soft during early stages therefore pressure should be

maintained for few seconds beyond this point).

INCOMPLETE CASTING REASON 2

INCOMPLETE ELIMINATION OF WAX RESIDUE:-

If too many products of combustion remain in the mold, the pores of

the investment become clogged and air cannot be vented properly.

Contact of molten metal with wax or moisture produces an explosion

that may produce sufficient back pressure to prevent the mold from
being filled

Castings seen are generally shiny with rounded defects.

 REASON 3
INCOMPLETE CASTING

HIGH VISCOSITY OF FUSED METALS

 An incomplete casting resulting from too great a viscosity is

attributed to insufficient heating.

 Temperature of the alloy should be raised higher than its liquid

temperature so that its viscosity and surface tension are lowered
and so that it does not solidify prematurity as it enters the mold.
 Premature Solidification
of the Alloy
The temperature of the alloy should be raised higher than its liquidus temperature

This decreases the viscosity and surface tension of the alloy

Prevents premature solidification of the alloy

 Note:
• White gold alloys have high liquidus temperature and so are more susceptible to
porosity
• Due to the same reason, it is difficult to melt white gold alloys with gas-air torch
flame
 SURFACE DISCOLOURATION
 Surface discoloration may be due to:

• Over heating

• Incomplete elimination of wax

• High sulfur contents of torch flame.

• Absence of reducing agents in the investment.

• A source of discoloration often overlooked is the surface contamination of a gold alloy

restoration by mercury.

• Thus it is not a good practice to place a new amalgam restoration adjacent to a high
noble metal alloy restoration.
 Contamination
 Caused by-
• Failure to use flux
• Due to oxidation, when metal alloy is overheated
• Use of oxidizing zone of the flame
• Formation of sulphur compound (Black Casting)

 Prevented by-
• Using flux
• Using reducing zone of the flame
• Do not overheat the alloy
 CONCLUSION
 An unsuccessful casting result in considerable trouble and loss of time,
in almost all instances, defects in castings can be avoided by strict
observance of procedures governed by certain fundamental rules and
principles.

 Seldom is a defect in a casting attributable to other factors than the

carelessness or ignorance of the operator. With present techniques,
casting failures should be the exception, not the rule.
 REFRENCES
• Kj A. Phillips’ science of dental materials. St. Louis: WB Saunders. 2003;596:41-
3.

• Craig RG, editor. Restorative dental materials. Mosby; 1980.

• Rosenstiel SF, Land MF, Walter R, editors. Contemporary fixed prosthodontics-

e-book: Contemporary fixed prosthodontics-e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences;
2022 Jun 22.

• Shillingburg HT, Hobo S, Whitsett LD, Jacobi R, Brackett SE. Fundamentals of

fixed prosthodontics. Chicago, IL, USA: Quintessence Publishing Company;
1997 Jan.
THANK
YOU