Zenith Aluminum & Brass Casting Foundry
China sand casting and gravity casting manufacturer

Aluminum sand casting introduction

Sand casting is a widely used form of aluminum casting. As the name implies, sand is used to create the casting mold. In aluminum sand casting, a metal pattern (commonly an aluminum pattern) of the finished part is placed in sand. The sand is then packed around the aluminum pattern to form the precise mold. The pattern must be removed before pouring the metal. And the mold will be made in two or more pieces, that is to say a mold always have more than one cavities. The mold must be modified to include a hole through which the metal will be poured, that is the sprue of the mold. The molten aluminum runs through sprue,runner system and gate into the mold cavity. The mold remains in static until the metal has solidified. The mold is destroyed when the part is removed, so a new mold has to be made for each casting.

advantage and disadvantage of aluminum sand casting

Advantage of aluminum sand casting. Aluminum sand casting process is not limited by the size of the casting parts. Even Zenith aluminum casting can cast extreme large and heavy parts up to 500kg.Compared with the cost of a die casting mold, the aluminum pattern is much cheaper, thus aluminum sand casting is much economical to cast a small volume of goods say several hundred pieces or even below one hundred pieces. Besides, the lead time of an aluminum pattern is much shorter than that of a die casting mold, aluminum sand castings are always applied in sample testing period. It is economical and fast.

Disadvantage of aluminum sand casting. Aluminum sand casting has a low production yield, thus the labor cost is much higher than a die casting part with a large volume. So aluminum sand casting is not suitable to produce a casting part with a volume more than hundred thousands pieces. As for its casting quality, aluminum sand castings always have a rough surface and the dimensions can not be controlled to that of a die casting parts.

Typical aluminum sand casting show

Forming material of aluminum sand casting:

green sand casting

Green sand refers to the sand exploited directly from nature without any chemical additive. Green sand is inexpensive and can produce parts in a wide range of sizes, however the surface finish is generally not smooth and the dimensions cannot be controlled to a small tolerance. Additional machining of the casting may be required. Now Zenith aluminum casting uses green sand to cast large aluminum castings. Mostly green sand mold combined with a resin sand core are used to produce aluminum castings with complicated inner structure.

Resin sand casting

Resin sand refers to an artificial sand with certain chemical additive. Resin sand is much more expensive than the green sand. However, resin sand can be used to produce much smooth parts. Furthermore, the dimensions can also be controlled to a small tolerance, as reduces much succeeding machining. Now Zenith aluminum casting uses resin sand to produce much complicated parts. If a project requires much high yield, we will consider to apply resin sand to speed the process of forming sand mold.

Links to aluminum sand casting technique database

refer to post treatments available for aluminum sand casting parts
refer to aluminum sand casting alloys designation sheet
refer to chemical composition sheet of china aluminum sand casting alloys
refer to mechanical property and application sheet of aluminum sand casting alloys
refer to tolerance level of aluminum sand casting
refer to machining allowance required for raw aluminum sand casting with different level

FAQ's as to aluminum sand casting

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