Metal Casting Lab

Western Michigan University offers a superlative student-centered metal casting experience in an environment that is unparalleled by other colleges. The goal is to see students applying practical concepts that will prepare them for a future in the manufacturing industry. To achieve this our lab is equipped with machinery, tooling, hardware, and software to help students design, produce and test a wide range of cast metals and cast metal matrix composites.

Our facilities and equipment allow students to understand the following melting, molding and casting processes, which are related to many facets of engineering: green sand mulling, green sand molding, shell molding, investment casting (wax press, tooling and cure furnace), gas and crucible melting, no-bake core melting, evaporative pattern casting and grinding and finishing.

This lab allows for the custom formulations of alloys. Students and faculty use the following software programs to analyze these alloys, minimizing problems in casting defects and maximizing aesthetic qualities.

• Gating design
• Risering systems
• Finite element analysis
• Solidification analysis

A metal casting short course sponsored by local chapters of the American Foundry Society is held at WMU each June. During a week-long stay, students work with a professor and senior CEAS students to mold, melt and pour.