Gating Design Optimization for Improvement in Yield of Casting

Casting has many process variations depending upon the material, the type of pattern, mould and the pouring technique like sand casting, investment casting, die casting, squeeze casting and lost foam casting. Sand casting is the most widely used process which can be used to produce intricate parts in almost every metal that can be melted. Casting defects analysis is process of finding the root cause of occurrence of defects in the rejection of casting and taking necessary steps to reduce the defects and to improve the casting yield. The design of gating system in most foundries is very much of an individual art based on the experience of the foundry man and the collective experience of foundry men in developing the castings. In this paper the discussion about optimization of yield of casting is done by modifying and optimizing the existing gating system. A gating system is essentially the plumbing network through which molten metal is introduced to the mold cavity of the casting; the conduit network through which liquid metal enters a mold and flows to fill the mold cavity, where the metal can then solidify to form the desired casting shape.