Casting – Advantages, Disadvantages and Product Classification

Advantages:

1. It can produce parts with complex shapes, especially blanks with complex internal cavities.

2. It has wide adaptability – all metal materials commonly used in industry can be cast, with weights ranging from a few grams to several hundred tons.

3. Raw materials are widely available and low-cost, such as scrap steel, waste parts, and metal shavings.

4. The shape and size of castings are very close to those of finished parts, which reduces the amount of cutting and belongs to non-cutting processing.

5. It is widely used – castings account for 40%~70% of the weight in agricultural machinery and 70%~80% of the weight in machine tools.

Disadvantages:

1. Its mechanical properties are not as good as those of forgings, such as coarse structure and many defects.

2. In sand casting, for single-piece and small-batch production, the labor intensity of workers is high.

3. The quality of castings is unstable – there are many processes, complex influencing factors, and it is easy to produce many defects.

Product Classification of Casting

Commonly Used Cast Ferrous Metals:

1. Gray cast iron

2. Ductile iron (Nodular cast iron)

3. Malleable cast iron

4. Cast steel

Commonly Used Cast Non-Ferrous Metals:

1. Brass

2. Tin bronze

3. Tin-free bronze

4. Aluminum alloy