Materials United and Tau Beta Pi hosted Metal Foundry in a Box at the M&M on Monday, Feb. 20. Participants could stop by during the afternoon and experience the processes of tin casting with proper safety protocol and with relative ease.
The event was a part of the National Engineers Week, a celebration held every year to get people thinking about how everyday products are manufactured. The event was designed to be available to all kinds of students, including those with no prior knowledge of foundry work or manufacturing.
According to the instructor, Ethan Chang, participants casted “Little tokens that they can take home and think about as their first experience casting.” The process involved sand or rubber molds, with the rubber molds being held together by multiple clamps to prevent leakage of tin.
Because of its relatively low melting point, about 400 to 500 degrees, tin was the metal of choice for this activity. After removing the impurities, the molten tin was poured into a mold of choice.
The participants had the option to choose the mold material, that being sand or rubber, as well as shape, with the available rubber shapes being dinosaur, dragon, husky, or horse. After a couple minutes of cooling, the mold could be removed to reveal the shiny metal animal.
After removal from the mold, the sprue, the material left over from the part of the mold where the metal is introduced, could be cut off using the tin snips. What the participant was then left with was a neat new little trinket. This event was only the beginning of the week-long celebration of engineering at Michigan Tech.
