THE CRITICAL CASTING DEFECT IN CAST IRON: SAND INCLUSION ? A REVIEW

Sand inclusion is an important defect in Cast Iron castings. On an average this defect is almost thirty to forty percent of the total defects occurring in a foundry. Sand inclusion is undesirable since it results in reduction in the strength of the casting and bad finish of the casting surface. More than hundred parameters are responsible for sand inclusion and hence it is difficult to control defect during casting. A detailed Literature review of the previous work mostly on sand inclusion for almost last fifty years is done in this paper to find appropriate parameters for defect formation of sand inclusion. From the literature review it is found that the exact remedy for sand inclusion is not easy. The papers describing different techniques like Quality Function Deployment, cause and effect diagram, Design of Experiments etc. are also referred for finding the appropriate parameters responsible for sand inclusion. Corrective action should be taken on responsible parameters to eliminate the defect and improve quality of ferrous castings.