BLOW HOLE DEFECT ANALYSIS IN

DIE CASTING

Presented by,
R.Ramesh
Assistant professor,
Mechanical Engineering,
Muthayammal Engineering College, Rasipuram.

INTRODUCTION:
Die Casting:
Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by
forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity
Gravity die casting is used to manufacture complex metal components
where there is a need for high structural integrity. In this process, liquid
metal is fed from below into the die used to form the component under a
positive pressure.

Casting defects analysis is the 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.
Various optimization methods to the die casting process parameters:
The Gradient search method, the Finite element method (FEM) and taguchi
method. Techniques like cause-effect diagrams, design of experiments
(DoE), Six Sigma, casting simulation and artificial neural networks (ANN)
are used by various researchers for analysis of casting defects.

LITERATURE REVIEW
AUTHOR

TITLE

SUMMARY

NAME

OF

THE

JOURNAL
Rajesh Rajkolhe,
J. G. Khan

Defects, Causes and

Their Remedies in
Casting Process:
A Review

Atul Bhujugade, Minimization

of
Vijay Sabnis
Casting
Defects
Using Casting
Simulation
Technique
and
Casting
Defects
Analysis
Using Design of
Experiment

This study aims to finding different defects in

casting, analysis of defect and providing their
remedies with their causes. In this paper an
attempt has been made to list different types
of casting defects and their root causes of
occurrence. This paper also aims to provide
correct guideline to quality control
department to find casting defects and will
help them to analyze defects which are not
desired.

International Journal

To perform the casting simulation technique

analysis for shrinkage porosity defect and
DOE used for sand casting Defect analysis.
Taguchi based L9 orthogonal array for the
experimental purpose and Analysis using
Minitab software for analysis of variance
Casting simulation technique analysis is
performed.

International Journal
for
Research
in
Applied Science &
Engineering

of

Research

in

Advent
Technology(2014)

Technology
(IJRASET)(2015)

Satish
Arun
Gupta,
Chandna

Kumar, Optimization
of
Kumar Process Parameters
Pankaj of Pressure
Die Casting using
Taguchi
Methodology

Study of effect of
parameter
Kulkarni Sanjay process
Kumar
J
K setting on porosity
levels of
Sawale , Sampath
aluminium pressure
Rao
die casting process
using Taguchi
Methodology

Pressure die casting is usually applied for International Journal

casting of aluminum alloys. The optimization of of
Mechanical
controllable process parameters such as
Engineering (2012)
solidification time, molten temperature, filling
time, injection Pressure and plunger velocity.
Moreover, by selection of optimum process
parameters the pressure die casting defects such
as porosity, insufficient spread of molten
material, flash etc. are also minimized.

in this work that die casting parameters which

are related with machine such as first phase
speed, second phase speed, first phase length
and injection pressure all have significant
influence on porosity level. The quality
assessment of the die casting part was based on
porosity measurement. The experiment have
been performed as per the combination of levels
of different process parameters suggested by L9
orthogonal array and conformation experiments
have been performed to validate the optimum
levels of different parameters

IOSR

Journal

of

Mechanical and Civil

Engineering
JMCE) (2013)

(IOSR-

Rasik A Upadhye Optimization

of
Dr. Ishwar P Sand
Casting
Keswani
Process Parameter
Using
Taguchi
Method in Foundry

This paper demonstrates a robust method for

formulating a strategy to find optimum
factors of process and interactions with a
small number of experiments. The process
parameters considered are moisture, sand
particle size, green compression strength,
mould hardness, permeability, pouring
temperature, pouring time and pressure test.
The results indicated that the selected process
parameters significantly affect the casting
defects in the foundry. The improvement
expected in reduction of casting defects is
found to be 37.66 percent

International Journal
of
Engineering
Research
&
Technology (IJERT) ,
(2012).

PROBLEM FORMULATION:
During the process of die casting, there is always a chance where defects will occur.
Minor defects can be adjusted easily but high reject rates could lead to significant changes
at a high cost. Therefore it is essential for die casters to have knowledge on the types of
defects and be able to identify the exact root cause, hence eliminate the losses.
In order to determine the quality of a casting, you must be able to identify the major
defects are analyzed.
Main type of defects are
Surface defects:
Cold flow, Cold shut, Non-fill , Poor-fill , Laps , Flow lines, Mis-run
Internal defects:
Inclusions, sludge, Porosity, blowholes
Dimensional defects:
Die temperature, Die Condition, Force of injection, Ejection

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
From the literature review, I have choose the problem of blow hole defect
reduction.
Blow hole problem is major problem of die casting Industry. So in order
to analyse and identifies the defect root cause and eliminate the major
problem.
Due to some environmental factor suddenly affect the casting quality. So,
in order to minimize the die casting defects by using design of
experiments.

OBJECTIVE

To minimize the die casting defect by using

design of experiment method

METHODOLOGY
Collecting casting
defects from die
casting

Identify the major

defects

Analyzing the casting

defect

Identifying the cause of

defect

Minimize the defect by

optimization techniques

Results and conclusions

DETAILS ON THE ANALYSIS:

In my project work, I am going to optimize the process parameters by using
analytical methods i.e.-Statistical modeling and DoE for historical data to be analyzed,
from Efficient Engineering Products, Coimbatore.
Die casting is a complex process, which is controlled by many process parameters
such as die related parameters and machine related parameters. Which has direct
impact on casting quality, improper setting is mainly focused on same issue.
The main issue is blow hole and porosity, which is caused by improper setting of
process parameters.
In this paper an industrial component having blow hole problem has been taken.
This study proposes the application of taguchi methodology in identifying the
optimum process parameters in order to improve the casting quality and reduce the
defects.

 From cause and effect diagaram, the major causes are

prioritized and analyse controllable factor are taken like
metal temperature, die temperature, die holding time.
This factor can be affect the die casting defect. So, proper
process parameter setting to be carried out the analysis.

TAGUCHI DESIGN PROCEDURE

Taguchis design procedure involves the
following steps.
Determine suitable working levels of the design
Select proper orthogonal array
Run experiment
Analyse the data
Identify optimal parameter
Conformation run
Determine the result of parameter design

Factor and Levels

Number of factors = 3
Number of Levels = 3
S.N FACTOR

SYMBOL

RANGE

LEVEL
1

Metal melting

LEVEL LEVEL
2

650C - 700C

650C

675C

700C

temperature
2

Die temperature

250C- 300C

250C

275C

300C

Die holding time

65 sec to 85 sec 65sec

75sec

85sec

Response
A cause and effect diagram can be used for identifying the
parameters that affects the response.
In this study, casting density has been chosen as a response, since if
the casting density is higher, lower the internal defects such as blow
holes and porosity.
Density of casting
Where,
density of casting (gm/cm3)
w1- Weight of the casting in air (gram)
W2 Weight of the casting in water (gram)
water - density of water (1 gm/cm3)

Degree of freedom
The degree of freedom is a very important value because it
determines the minimum number of treatment conditions
.DOF is calculated using the following formula.
DOF = (Number of Level-1) for each factor+ (Number of
levels-1)(Number of levels-1)for each Interaction + one for
the average.
Dof = (3-1)3+1
=7
Then the OA 9 table was selected.

Levels
Experiment Number
A

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:

The experimental setup consists of die casting cell comprising of

Gravity die casting machine, an electric holding furnace. The die
casting machine is manually operated by the use of ladler for
pouring the molten metal from the melting cum holding furnace.
The various settings required for this experiment can be set
manually and it is monitored.
Before starting the experiment, the dies were preheated to a
temperature of 250C to 300C using a gas burner.
The die temperature was measured by using infrared gun.
A total of 9 different combinations shown in the above Table were
tried and parts were cast for each combination, which totals of 9
casting formed.

Test Run Design

Trail No:

Metal Temperature (A)

Die Temperature (B)

Die holding time

in C

in C

(C) in Seconds

650

250

65

650

275

75

650

300

85

675

250

75

675

275

85

675

300

65

700

250

85

700

275

65

700

300

75

Experimental Results:
The density of the casting was measured by Archimedes principle and
the results are shown below.
Minitab 16 software has been used to carry out Taguchi optimization.
The response value is taken as density of the sample casting that were
cast under each trail condition.
Then S/N ratio were computed based upon the formula S/N ratio for
larger the better characteristics.
S/N ratio = -10 log 10 (1/r (1/yi2))
where,
r -number of observations,
yi -Response value for each trail.
The experimental results are shown in table 3.

MODEL S/N RATIO CALCULATION

S/N ratio for treatment condition 1

S/N ratio = -10log10 ( (1/2.3332)/1)
= 7.35829
Similarly the S/N ratio for all treatment condition were
calculated and tabulated.

MAIN EFFECT CALCULATION

The main effect factor A at Level 1 & 2
Effect of factor A1 = (2.333+ 2.702 +2.627)/3
= 2.554
Effect of factor A2 = (2.672+ 2.649 +2.743)/3
= 2.688
Similarly the main effect for all other factors at all levels
main effect calculation are carried out and is shown in
table

DENSITY CALCULATION:
Weight of the casting air = 1500 g
Weight of the casting in water = 950 g
Density of water = 1 g/cm3
= ( 1500/(1500-950))*1
= 2.727 g/cm3

Test Response Value

Trail

Density (g/cm3)

S/N ratio

2.333

7.35829

2.702

8.63371

2.627

8.38920

2.672

8.53673

2.649

8.46164

2.743

8.76452

2.654

8.47802

2.690

8.59505

2.727

8.71370

Response Table for Signal to Noise Ratios

Larger is better
Level
1
2
3
Delta
Rank

A
8.127
8.588
8.596
0.469
2

B
C
8.124 8.239
8.563 8.628
8.622 8.443
0.498 0.389
1
3

Response Table for Means

Level
1
2
3
Delta
Rank

A
2.554
2.688
2.690
0.136
2

B
C
2.553 2.589
2.680 2.700
2.699 2.643
0.146 0.112
1
3

Main Effects Plot for SN ratios

Data Means
A

8.70

8.55

Mean of SN ratios

8.40
8.25
8.10
1

8.70
8.55
8.40
8.25
8.10
1

Signal-to-noise: Larger is better

Main Effects Plot for Means

Data Means
A

2.70

Mean of Means

2.65
2.60
2.55
1

2
C

2.70
2.65
2.60
2.55

From the response graph the optimized results are A3, B3,
and C2. Higher the Density values to reduce the internal
defect of blow hole.
So, the optimized process parameters are
Metal Temperature: 700C
Die Temperature: 300C
Die holding time: 75sec
These are values to conduct the experiment.

ANOVA table for Means and S/N Ratios:

Analysis of Variance for SN ratios

Source
A
B
C
Residual
Error
Total

DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS

F
P
2 0.4317 0.4317 0.2158 1.34 0.428
2 0.4444 0.4444 0.2222 1.38 0.421
2 0.2269 0.2269 0.1134 0.70 0.587
2 0.3226 0.3226 0.1613
8 1.4256

Analysis of Variance for Means

Source
A
0.424
B
0.416
C
0.590
Residual

DF Seq SS Adj SS Adj MS

F
P
2 0.03655 0.03655 0.018274 1.36
2
2

0.03788 0.03788 0.018939 1.41

0.01871 0.01871 0.009353 0.69

From the ANOVA table for SN ratio, F value is

most significant factor of Die temperature and next
factor is Metal Temperature.
Die holding time are also significant.

Prediction of optimum response:

To predict the mean at the optimum condition and then compare them against a
confirmation experiment.
For mean response the overall average of casting density () is 2.644.
The predicted optimal response () is:
predicted = Estimate of the process mean at optimum condition
= .+(A3-.)+(B3-.)+(C2-.)
Where,

.
A3
B3
C2

= Predicted Value,
= Mean responses of L9 taguchi method,
= Mean Metal melting temperature at higher level,
= Mean Die temperature at higher level,
= Mean Die holding time at middle level.

So, the prediction equation the value is

= 2.644+ (2.690-2.644)+(2.699-2.644)+(2.700-2.644)
= 2.644 +0.046+0.055+0.056
= 2.801 g/cm3

Percentage of Predicted increase:

= (1- (Average of response/predicted response))*100
= (1-(2.644/2.801))*100
= 5.60% of Predicted increase.
The optimum casting density of the experiment is 2.758 g/cm 3.
= (1-(Average of response/Optimum response))*100
= (1-(2.644/2.758))*100
= 4.13%
Then to calculate the optimum value is 4.13% increased.

CONCLUSION
The optimization procedure has been made to study the effect of die casting process parameters
on casting density.
Generally when the casting density is higher, internal defects such as blow holes and porosity is
eliminated.
So, the basic idea is to provide a decision tool for setting optimum parameters so that the defects
occurring in the casting is reduced.
Taguchi method was applied for optimizing the die casting process parameters, and the results
obtained using this method was useful in eliminating the blow holes problem in housing assembly
product.

The optimum values are Metal temperature 700C, Die temperature 300C, Die holding time
75seconds.
After that the predicted optimum response of Die casting product is nearly equal to the Taguchi
optimum response.
The future work is to analysis different confirmation test like Radiography test, simulation,
PROCAST software, and SOLID CAST software to analyzed and reduced the Die casting
defects.

REFERENCES:
1. Atul A. Bhujugade, Vijay B. Sabnis , Minimization of Casting Defects
Using Casting Simulation Technique and Casting Defects Analysis
Using Design of Experiment, International Journal for Research in
Applied Science & EngineeringTechnology (IJRASET)(2015).
2. Satish Kumar, Arun Kumar Gupta, Pankaj Chandna, Optimization of
Process Parameters of Pressure Die Casting using Taguchi
Methodology, International Journal of MechanicalEngineering Vol:6, No:8,
2012.
3. Rajesh Rajkolhe, J. G. Khan Defects, Causes and Their Remedies in
Casting Process: A Review, International Journal of Research in Advent
Technology(2014).
4. Kulkarni Sanjay Kumar, J K Sawale , Sampath Rao, Study of effect of
process parameter setting on porosity levels of aluminium
pressure die casting process using Taguchi Methodology, IOSR
Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE), PP 12-17, 2013.
5. Rasik A Upadhye ,Dr. Ishwar P Keswani , Optimization of Sand Casting
Process Parameter Using Taguchi Method in Foundry , International
Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ,2012.
6. Mr. Siddalingswami. S. Hiremath, Dr. S. R. Dulange, Advanced Tehniques
in Casting Defects And Rejection Analysis: A Study in an Industry,
International Journal of Innovations in Engineering
Research and
Technology [IJIERT], : ISSN2394-3696VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9, SEP.-2015.

Thank YOU