Hot tears in grey iron castings

In general, one of the main casting defects due to residual stresses are cracks (tears). Cracks may be defined as a material separation, which is caused by mechanical and dynamic overloads. There are cold and hot cracks, depending on the temperature range in which they occurred. Hot cracks (tears) represent intercrystalline material separations that form in the solidification interval, just above the solidus temperature. They are caused by the residual stresses in the casting and the insufficient ability of material to bear such stresses. An analysis of possible patterns and mechanisms of hot tear formation during casting in operating conditions is presented in this paper.