Casting technology generally consists of three procedures:

① Preparation of the mold (a container for shaping liquid metal into solid castings).

Molds can be classified by material into sand mold, metal mold, ceramic mold, clay mold, graphite mold, etc.

By service life, they are divided into disposable mold, semi-permanent mold and permanent mold.

The quality of mold preparation is a major factor affecting casting quality.

② Melting and pouring of casting metals.

Common casting metals (casting alloys) include various cast iron, cast steel, cast non-ferrous metals and their alloys.

③ Casting treatment and inspection.

Casting treatment includes core removal, cleaning of surface impurities, removal of gating and riser systems, grinding off burrs and flash fins, as well as heat treatment, straightening, rust prevention and rough machining.

Casting technology comprises three basic parts: casting metal preparation, mold preparation and casting post-treatment.

Casting metal refers to the metallic material poured to form castings. It is an alloy mainly composed of one base metal element with the addition of other metallic or non-metallic elements, conventionally called casting alloy, mainly including cast iron, cast steel and cast non-ferrous alloys.

Metal melting is not merely simple liquefaction; it also involves refining.

It ensures the poured liquid metal meets specified requirements in temperature, chemical composition and purity.

For this purpose, various quality inspection and tests are conducted during melting.

Liquid metal is allowed for pouring only after reaching all specified technical indicators.

In some cases, to achieve higher performance requirements, the molten metal needs ladle refining treatment after tapping, such as desulfurization, vacuum degassing, external refining, inoculation and modification treatment.

Common equipment for metal melting includes cupola, electric arc furnace, induction furnace, resistance furnace and reverberatory furnace.