UPMSP Intermediate Metal Craft: Moulding in Ferrous Metals study plan

Classify the constituents of moulding sand (silica base sand, clay binder, water, organic/inorganic additives) and draw a labelled composition chart giving the typical percentage range of each.

Explain the required properties of moulding sand - green strength, dry strength, permeability, refractoriness, collapsibility, flowability, adhesiveness and durability - and name the standard test used to measure each one.

Calculate, from given raw data, moisture content by the drying test, clay content by the wash/elutriation test, AFS grain fineness number from sieve retention weights, and permeability number from the standard formula, solving at least five numeric items.

Compile a foundry safety checklist covering molten-metal handling, silica dust and ventilation, PPE, moulding-box and crane safety, and first aid for burns and metal fume exposure, and state the hazard each control addresses.

Identify at least 20 hand moulding tools and equipment (trowel, rammer, sprue pin, vent wire, slick, swab, lifter, gate cutter, strike-off bar, riddle, draw spike, bellows, moulding boxes, bottom board) and state the specific use of each.

Write out, in correct order, the full sequence for making a green-sand mould on a split pattern in a two-part moulding box, from placing the pattern on the board to finishing the sprue and venting.

Compare green-sand, dry-sand, loam, CO2 and no-bake moulding practice in terms of binder, moisture, strength development and typical application.

Justify correct ramming pressure, venting distance, pattern drawing technique and swabbing practice, and list the mould damage caused by each common error.

Compute pattern dimensions from liquid shrinkage allowance for grey cast iron, carbon steel and aluminium using the standard mm-per-metre values, solving at least six problems.

Apply draft, machining, distortion and shake/rapping allowances together in multi-allowance problems and state the rule for the direction in which each allowance is added.

Distinguish solid, split, match-plate, loose-piece, sweep and skeleton patterns and half, split, dump and gang core boxes, and match each to a suitable casting example.

Determine core-print size and design a simple core, covering core-sand mix selection, venting, chaplets, baking and core settling, and explain why core prints must be oversized relative to the core.

Label the elements of a gating system (pouring basin, sprue, sprue well, runner, ingate, slag trap) and compute the gating ratio for a given set of cross-sectional areas.

Compare top, bottom, parting-line, step and whirl gating on flow pattern, erosion, slag trapping and temperature gradient, and select the correct type for a stated casting requirement.

Apply Chvorinov's rule and the modulus method to size a feeder/riser for a given casting, using the 1.5 to 2 times casting-modulus criterion, and justify the use of chills, exothermic sleeves and padding where a riser alone is insufficient.

Relate three specific casting defects (sand erosion, slag inclusion, shrinkage cavity) back to a gating or feeding design fault and state the design change that removes each.

Describe the cupola with its five zones (well, combustion/oxidising, reducing, melting, preheating) and explain the reactions and temperature range in each zone.

Calculate a cupola charge mix - pig iron, scrap, coke and limestone - for a stated tonnage and coke ratio, and check the result against a given carbon and silicon target.

Compare cupola, induction furnace and arc furnace melting for ferrous metals on composition control, superheat, sulphur pickup and suitable casting size.

State correct pouring temperatures for grey cast iron and carbon steel, describe inoculation and spheroidising treatment for SG iron, and list defects caused by pouring too cold or too hot.

Explain shell moulding, investment (lost-wax) casting, centrifugal casting, CO2 moulding and no-bake/air-set moulding, giving for each the process sequence, one suitable ferrous application and one limitation.

Build a defect catalogue of at least 15 ferrous casting defects (blowhole, pinhole, shrinkage cavity, hot tear, cold shut, misrun, sand inclusion, scab, rat tail, swell, drop, metal penetration, flash, mismatch, hard spot) with cause and remedy for each.

Match inspection and NDT methods - visual and dimensional, dye penetrant, magnetic particle, ultrasonic, radiography, pressure testing, metallographic and chemical analysis - to the defect types each can reveal and state the limitation of each method.

Explain the difference between a defect that is repairable by welding or impregnation and one that requires rejection, and state the inspection stage at which each is normally detected.

Sequence the fettling operations - knockout/shakeout, core removal, gate and riser removal, shot blasting, chipping, grinding, inspection and repair - and state the purpose of each.

Write out the heat-treatment cycles for stress relieving, annealing, normalising, hardening and tempering of ferrous castings, giving the temperature range, holding time and cooling method for each.

Solve at least 20 workshop calculation items involving casting weight from volume and density, pattern size from shrinkage, charge-mix proportions, gating-ratio area, pouring time and unit conversion.

Read and take measurements with a vernier calliper, micrometer, dial indicator, try square, radius gauge and surface plate, and state the least count and correct use of each instrument.

Re-attempt every item previously logged in the error table and record whether each is now correct without notes.

Sit two full-length timed mock papers covering all 11 domains under exam conditions and mark them strictly against the syllabus weightings.

Re-derive from memory the high-yield formulae: shrinkage allowance, gating ratio, modulus and riser size, permeability number, AFS grain fineness number, charge-mix proportion and casting weight.

Draw up a final one-page revision sheet of the weakest three domains, listing only the facts that were repeatedly wrong in the mock papers.