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Materials Science and Engineering
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MSE 414 - Solidification of Castings
Spring Semester


2000-01 Catalog Data: MSE 414 - Solidification of Castings (3) I   II Principles of metal castings while applying
fundamentals of transport phenomena and materials science and engineering. Students work in
teams on three projects that provide experience in engineering design and hands-on use of the
Metal Casting Laboratory. 3ED. Field Trips. P, A ME 432 or CHEE 305 or MSE 331R or MSE 110 or MSE 409.

Textbook:

D.R. Poirier and G.H. Geiger, Transport Phenomena in Materials Processing, TMS, Warrendale, PA, 1994.

References:


J. Campbell: Castings, Inst. British Foundryment, Birmingham, U.K., 1993.
D.R. Poirier and E.J. Poirier: Heat Transfer Fundamentsl for Metal Casting, TMS,
Warrendale, PA, 1994.
H.F. Taylor, M.C. Flemingns, and J. Wulff: Foundry Engineering, John Wiley, New York, NY,
1959.

Instructor:

D.R. Poirier, Profesor of Materials Science and Engineering

Prerequisites by Topic:


  1. Basic materials science (the solidification transformation in metals and phase diagrams)
  2. Conduction heat transfer (recommended)

Method for Assessing Student Knowledge of Prerequisite Topics:

In class examination on
second day of classes. Results evaluated and reported to MSE Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
Students without background in conduction heat transfer are assigned reading of a
primer in heat transfer.

Overall Educational Goal:

The course gives students the concepts of the metal casting process
in a design context.

Specific Instructional Goals:


  1. To learn how heat transfer can be applied to metal castings.
  2. Develop an ability to design risers and gating systems for metal systems.
  3. To learn how metal castings are produced by making molds, and melting and pouring molten
    metal in the casting laboratory.
  4. To function effectively in teams.
  5. To gain additional practice in preparing technical reports.
  6. To apply CAD and castings software to casting design.

Course Topics (Class Hours):


  1. Casting lab (molding, melting, pouring) (4)
  2. Soldification heat transfer (9)
  3. Design of risers for castings (6)
  4. Solidification of alloys (6)
  5. Processing-structure-property synergism in castings (6)
  6. Casting software (WinMod)(5)

Class Requirements:


  1. Six lectures per semester.
  2. Casting laboratory sessions-available three hours per week for projects.
  3. Two class sessions on casting software.
  4. Submit reports on three extended projects:
  5. Relate heat transfer to producting castings-requires laboratory sessions and technical report.
  6. Competition among teams to produce an aluminum casting-requires laboratory sessions
    and submission of casting which is evaluated on several criteria (casting yield, soundness, gating
    design, hardness, molding simplicity, and overall appearance).
  7. Competition among teams to cast and heat treat test bars. This includes the use of casting
    software (required), riser design, gating design, selection/design of heat treating schedule, and
    tensile testing.

Computer Usage:

Third project requires use of CAD and casting software called WinMod
(under development at Sandia National Laboratories)

Laboratory Projects:

Two projects (items 4a and 4b described above) require use of metal
casting laboratory.

Assessment of Course Goals:

Evaluation of the teams' projects technical report as
described above.

Contribution to Professional Component:


Engineering Design: 3 units

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