• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2004

The effects of casting condition and hot melt glue during Lost Foam Casting were investigated on the fluidity of Al alloy melt. The fluidity increased linearly with increasing pouring temperature in thick castings but non-linearly in thin casting due to the difference in main heat flow direction. The metal flow velocity was in range of $0.5{\sim}2.7$ cm/s in no evacuation condition and the minimum value of it was measured after the melt flow through the hot melt barrier. The mold evacuation improved the metal flow velocity by around $0.5{\sim}1$ cm/s. And the reaction zone layer thickness was about 1 cm in no-evacuation conditions but about 0.6 cm in mold evacuation condition of 710 torr due to the easier removal of pyrolsis product of EPS. And hot melt barrier thickness of 0.6 mm increased the reaction zone layer thickness up to about 2.5 cm. The fluidity decreased remarkably with an enlarged thickness of hot melt due to a lot of pyrolysis products.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2002

Silica sand, zircon sand, and steel shots were used as mold packing materials in lost foam casting of the aluminum alloy bar. Vibration acceleration in three directions and temperatures in the casting and mold were measured, and packing and cooling characteristics of these materials were investigated. Packing densities increased with increase in vibration magnitude and time, and were $1.41{\sim}1.49g/cm^2$ for silica sand, $2.54{\sim}2.86g/cm^2$ for zircon sand, and $3.92{\sim}4.52g/cm^2$ for steel shots. Sound castings were obtained only without evacuation of the flask during pouring. Solidification time became faster in order of silica sand, zircon sand and steel shot packing because steel shot has the highest cooling capacity of them. Solidification time of steel shot packing was shortened to about 1/2 of silica sand packing. Cooling capacity of sand mold was generally evaluated by heat diffusivity of the mold, however could be simply evaluated with specific heat per unit volume of the packing material in lost foam casting.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.268-275
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• 2003

The mechanism of the hydrogen gas pore formation was investigated in Lost Foam Casting of Al-alloy by reduced pressure test and real casting. The hydrogen gas pick-up was affected by the formed gas during the decomposition of polystyrene in addition to the liquid product. It depended on pouring temperature and a proper temperature of metal front gave the minimum hydrogen pick-up. At a low pouring temperature, the hydrogen went into the melt mainly from entrapped liquid product of polystyrene but pores were formed from the gas as well as the liquid product at a high pouring temperature. The mold flask evacuation down to 710torr decreased the gas porosity down by around 0.4% vol%. The entrapped decomposition product of polystyrene in the melt was observed through the visualization of filling behavior of Al alloy-melt with the high speed camera.