A State-of-the-Art Review on Manufacturing and Additive Influences on Sand-Cast Components

Sand casting is the one of the oldest fabrication techniques, which has a number of important technological challenges with respect to improving productivity and quality of the castings. It is essential for the foundries to reduce or eliminate the casting defects if they need to survive in this highly competitive global market. This review arises from a strong industrial demand for understanding the physical and process parameters to improve the quality and soundness of the sand-cast products. The present article primarily reviews the investigations done by researchers on the usability of locally available silica sands and clays for casting both ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. The paper highlights the application of artificial intelligence techniques in predicting the sand mould quality and further optimizing the casting process parameters. This article also analyses the potentials and feasibility of three-dimensional printing in sand casting process. Further, the role of different additives on sand mould composition and different trace elements or inoculants on mechanical properties and microstructure of sand casting has been discussed. Finally, elaborations have been made about various types of hybrid sand casting processes along with metal matrix composites.