Virtual Casting Laboratory
Description
This virtual laboratory introduces engineering students to six major metal casting processes used in modern manufacturing: sand casting, investment (lost wax) casting, die casting, permanent mold casting, centrifugal casting, and shell mold casting. Through interactive, drag-and-drop simulations that mirror each process's real physical steps — from building a sand mold and placing a gating system, to spinning a mold for centrifugal casting, to curing a resin-coated shell — students engage hands-on with the sequence, materials, and equipment involved in each technique rather than reading about them passively. The lab also includes a defects identification exercise covering porosity, shrinkage, cold shut, misrun, sand inclusion, and hot tears, along with worked examples connecting each process to real industrial applications such as engine blocks, turbine blades, automotive housings, and pipes. Knowledge is reinforced throughout with short per-process quizzes and a comprehensive final assessment covering all six processes and common defects.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this lab, students will be able to identify and distinguish between the six major casting processes based on their method, tooling, and typical use cases; select appropriate molding materials and reusable or single-use mold types for a given casting scenario; understand the purpose and design principles of gating systems, including sprues, runners, risers, and ingates, and how they influence casting quality; recognize common casting defects and relate each to its likely process-related cause; and evaluate which casting process is best suited to a given product's geometry, material, precision requirements, and production volume.