Challenges in Development of Large Size

( 5 to 20 Tons) Valve Castings

S.R. Subramani S. Karthikeyan

Joint General Manager Deputy General Manager
Quality Control & Quality Assurance Quality Assurance & Metallurgical Engineering
Audco India Limited Audco India Limited
Chennai -600 089 Chennai -600 089
India India

Key words: Castings Design, Riser, Gating, Melting, Electric Arc Furnace,
Ladle Furnace, Heat treatment, Radiography, Linear Accelerator.

Abstract:
Energy requirement is increasing multifold worldwide. To meet the Energy requirement
cost effectively, companies are starting mega projects in Refineries, Power Plants and
Cross Country Pipe lines where pipe lines require large valves greater than 42” size
with single piece valve body casting weight ranging from 5 to 20 tons. Success of Large
size Casting development depends on various factors like identification of foundry with
very high melting capacity, experience in large and heavier casting method designing,
sound moulding, melting and pouring practices, good inspection and handling facility..

This paper describes the challenges faced in various stages of large size casting
development and usage of special techniques, equipment and facility like Simulation
software for casting method design for casting internal soundness, large melting
Induction furnace ( IF ), Electric Arc furnace ( EAF ) and Ladle refining furnace to melt
40 MT of metal, special double ladle pouring to pour more than 20MT Liquid metal into
the mould within the pouring temperature and time to prevent shrinkage and cold shut,
special radiographic sources like Cobalt 60 Radio Isotopes and Linear Accelerators to
get good sensitivity for the casting internal soundness.

1 Introduction:
Valve manufacturing cost is largely dependent on casting quality which in turn impact on
safety, reliability and performance. Valve manufacturers seek casting supplier to
achieve shorter lead time, defect free, good surface finish and dimensional accuracy
which are very challenging for large size castings. Since the large size valves are used
mostly in very critical application like H2S service in refinery and Off-shore platform,
cryogenic service in LNG plants, CNG services in cross country pipe lines, high
temperature service in power plants, the customer expectations are more like faster
Delivery, Stringent Radiography requirements for internal soundness, special chemistry
to meet various service conditions and Integral test bar to ensure the heat treatment
and mechanical properties.

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This paper presents how such large size castings are developed and special
requirements of the castings are achieved by close interaction with foundry method
engineer, pattern maker and our design engineer to finalise the casting design, adopting
modern tools of, very close process control in mould making, melting and pouring and
fabricating large mould box, 40 MT ladle, quench tanks, handling facility.

2. Large Size Castings:

Any castings weighing more than 5.0MT are considered large size which requires
special skill in manufacturing and testing facility. In a valve, body casting is heavier than
any other components. We have supplied many large size valves by developing many
large size castings in Carbon steel ( WCB ), Low temperature carbon steel ( LCB / LCC
), Chrome – Moly steel ( C5, C12, C12A ), Stainless steel ( CF8M, CF8, CF3M ) and
Duplex and Super duplex stainless steel ( CD3MN, CE3MN ). Some of the body
casting with casting weight of 6.0 to 18.0 MT are listed below:

24” Cl 1500 Valve Body

28” Cl 900 Valve Body

42’ Cl 600 Valve Body

48” Cl 300 Valve Body

54” Cl 300 Valve Body

60” Cl 300 Valve Body

2.1 Casting Source Development:

Identification and development of the foundry source for large size casting is very big
challenge which requires the following as mentioned below to meet the casting quality
and customer approvals.

Quality Management System certified to ISO-9001 and material compliance to PED

requirements.

Simulation Methoding software to get internal soundness and faster development of
the casting.

Very large mould box and advanced moulding practice for good surface finish.

Large melting and pouring capacity for 10 to 40 tons

Large capacity Heat treatment furnace with large water quench facility.

Radiography facility like Co 60 and Linear Accelerator.

Large Floor space and handling facility like 50 MT EOT crane

2.2 Casting Design and Methoding:

Casting quality and cost effectiveness depends on the casting design which is finalized
after consultation with Pattern maker and Foundry method engineers by our design
engineer. Casting internal soundness heavily depends on the casting methoding of riser
and gating system. It is not practically possible to take trial and arrive the casting

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methoding due to the sample casting development cost and time. Simulation software is
used for Thermal Flow and Analysis ( Fig. 1 ) which uses 3D Model for Methoding
( Fig. 2 ) to analysis Fluid velocity, Pressure and Fill time to design Riser and Gating
system to determine the solidification temperature drop, solidification time and
shrinkage location ( Fig. 3 ).

Though ASME B16.34 specifies radiography on critical area which constitute less than
40% of the overall casting area, but 100% of the castings area is radiographed for
sample casting which is very challenging. Simulation software for casting design and
methoding and the experience of the method engineer helped to develop many large
size castings without any methoding defects and any major process defects
successfully which saved lot of development time and rework..

Fig No. 1 Analysis of Flow

Fig No. 2 3D Model with Methoding

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 Fig No. 3 Analysis of Solidification

2.3 Moulding and Core making:

Good moulding and core making technique ensure the Surface quality and dimension of
the castings, but it is very challenging for large size castings. It requires large space,
large / heavy structured Mould box to withstand liquid metal pressure and hold large
quantity of sand.

Co2 ( Silica sand and Sodium silicate binder ) and resin ( Phenolic ) based mould are
used in the large metal box in the pit to avoid lifting of the ladle to very high height also
to facilitate easy position of the ladle above the pouring to pour and safety ( Fig. 4 ). 40
tons of sand is uniformly mixed with binder which is very critical to achieve the required
hardness and permeability to get sufficient strength to hold liquid metal, to prevent
erosion during metal flow and to allow the gas to escape.

Core weight and strength are very critical to achieve the casting internal dimensions.
Any small lift or shift of the large size of the core result in deformed castings. Resin
based core with calculated metal reinforcement rods / pipe are used to maintain the
weight of the core. If resin binder and reinforcement strength are not sufficient, the core
degrade very fast and collapse and result in rejection of the castings.

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 Fig No. 4 Pit Type Mould for 54” valve Body

2.4 Melting and Pouring:

Huge Melting furnaces of 10 MT to 40 MT capacity are used to pour large size castings
of 5 MT -20 MT which is difficult to achieve in single furnace. The following various
combination furnaces are used to pour depending on the casting weight.

10 MT + 10 MT induction furnace – Dual track

15 MT + 20 MT induction furnace – Dual track

10 MT Induction furnace + 20 MT Electric Arc Furnace ( EAF )

10 MT Induction furnace + 20 MT Electric Arc Furnace ( EAF ) + 10MT Ladle

Furnace.

Chemistry composition of the casting with less Sulphur, Phosphorous, Silicon, trace
elements and Gases is very critical to achieve the casting surface finish, internal
soundness, weldability, mechanical and corrosion properties. Since metal refining is not
possible in induction furnace, Procuring huge tonnage of quality scrap ( single type, free
from rust, oil, grease, moisture, chemistry controlled ) is very challenging. Selected
scraps in Induction furnaces and standard scrap in Electric Arc furnace ( Fig. 5 ) are
used to pour large size steel castings. Temperature of the melt is measured and
controlled which is very critical to avoid gas pickup and alloy losses. Stainless steel and
High alloy steels are vacuum degassed to reduce the gas content in the melt. Bath
analysis of the melt is done before pouring to ensure chemistry which is displayed
digitally online in the melt shop to avoid time delay.

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 Fig No. 5 Electric Arc furnace to melt the Scrap

Bottom poured Large size ladles are designed and fabricated to hold 20 MT – 40 MT
and transferred the liquid metal in to the mould within the pouring time. Ladle height,
diameter and nozzle diameter are very critical which is calculated for metal velocity to
pour without mould erosion, volume of metal transfer to pour with in solidification time
and time take to transfer with out reducing the pouring temperature.

More than 25 MT of liquid metal pouring in Double ladle technique is used to pour liquid
metal simultaneously with in the pouring time and temperature ( Fig. 6 ) to avoid casting
defects. Runner bars are used to accommodate the two ladles pouring in single mould.

Fig No. 6: Bottom ladle pouring of 60” valve Body

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2.5 Fettling and Casting Finish:
Heavier castings take longer time to cool inside the mould. Knockout of the casting from
the mould depends on the materials grade. Materials like Low alloy steel, High Chrome
Moly steel requires slow cooling inside the mould to avoid cracks and materials like
Duplex stainless steel, Super Duplex Stainless steels are knockout at hot condition to
increase the cooling rate to avoid crack.

Resin based cores are used to get better collapsibility of the core. Lot of care has been
taken to remove the core reinforcement without affecting the casting internal surface.
Since Riser and gating system constitute 50% of the poured metal, it is very challenging
to cut very big raiser especially stainless steel castings, special cutting methods like
plasma cutting, Iron powder oxy cutting are used ( Fig. 7 ). Pre-heating of the High
chrome –Moly steel and water cooling of duplex and super duplex stainless steels
castings are employed to cut / remove the riser and gating system to avoid cracks on
the base metal. Lot of care have been taken in cutting the riser which is not very close
to the casting surface to prevent crack develop due to heat input of the arc cutting is not
propagate to casting surface.

Fig No.7 Bottom ladle pouring of 60” valve Body

Good Surface finish of the large surface area of the large size casting is challenging
which requires more time, money and special grinding facility. Special moulding
technique like using Zircon sand on the facing surface and special refractive mould
coating are used to get good surface finish

2.6 Heat treatment and Upgradation:

Mechanical and corrosion properties of the castings are determined by the heat
treatment process like maintaining Uniform temperature in the furnace, Quenching
temperature, controlling the Time for quenching and cooling rate. Very large capacity
electrical and Oil fired furnaces with large quenching tank with cooling facility are used.
Thermal survey of furnace is done to ensure the uniformity of the temperature inside the

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furnace. Quenching time is very critical for Stainless steel, Duplex / super duplex
stainless steel material to avoid crack and to achieve the mechanical and corrosion
properties. High speed motor for bogie hearth to move the casting from the furnace and
high speed crane are used to lift and immerse large size castings within 60 seconds.
( Fig. 8 )

Fig No. 8 Fast moving motorized Bogie Hearth table

Casting upgradation for defects on large size castings are difficult which requires skilled
welder and good handling facility. Welding procedures and welders are qualified as per
ASME sec IX B & PVC and EN 287-1. Welding consumables are pre-qualified for
corrosion and mechanical properties and checked for chemical, weldability and defect
for each batch. To maintain Preheating and interpass temperature of the large size
castings during welding electrical heater and ceramic blankets are used to avoid crack.

2.7 Inspection and Testing:

Inspection of large size castings is very challenging. Surface quality of the casting is
very critical for the casting performance, surface defect like crack is the starting point for
crack propagation and lead to Hydrogen Induced cracking ( HIC ), Sulphide Stress
Cracking ( SSC ) and Chloride Stress Cracking ( CSC ) failure in sour, stressed and
corrosive service. Castings are ground and shot blasted for Surface NDE which requires
good surface finish to carry out the Visual Check ( VT ) as per MSS–SP-55 and
Magnetic Particle Testing ( MPT ) for Carbon steels and Low alloy steel and Penetrant
Testing ( PT ). Fluorescent Type Penetrant Testing is used for special alloys like
Duplex, Super duplex stainless steels and fluorescent type Magnetic Particle Testing
( MPT ) is used for High Chrome - Moly steel to detect very thin cracks. Very large size
surface table is installed to mark and check the casting dimensions which are very
critical for large size casting.

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Internal soundness is very critical for Pressure tightness of the castings. Sample
Castings are subjected to radiography on 100% area and regular castings are subjected
to Radiography as per customer requirements on critical area as per ASME B16.34.
Radiography of Large size castings are very challenging due to the wall thickness
ranges from 50 mm to 250mm. Since wall thickness is beyond Ir192 isotope range of
75 mm maximum, high curie Co 60 isotopes are used for thickness beyond 75 to 175
mm. Since time taken is very high even with Co 60 for large thickness, linear
accelerators are employed for better sensitivity.

3 Conclusion:
Development of large size steel castings are very challenging, but many large size
castings are successfully developed in very short lead time by adopting

Good casting design and methoding for riser and gating system using simulation
software which is the key factor for cost effective and radiographic quality large size
castings

Quality scrap and good process control in moulding like hardness, permeability, uniform
preheating ensure the good casting surface finish and less surface defects. Accurate
planning on melting, pouring sequence, pouring time and temperature give good casting
internal soundness.

Service and design requirements of mechanical and corrosion properties of the castings
are achieved by controlling the heat treatment process like uniform temperature, faster
quenching and cooling rate.

4 References:
1. Steel Foundry Research by R.W. Monroe and M. Blair, Steel Founder Society of
America.
2. “Cost Effective Casting Design “ by M.A. Gwyn, Modern Casting
3. Mold and Core Test hand book, American Foundry Society
4. New Hot tapping Technique by R.C. Aurfderheide, AFS Transaction
5. “Castings” American Society for Metals - ASM Hand Book
6. Foseco Ferrous Foundryman’s Hand Book by John R.Brown

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