Many a time if you are a casting buyer you may not view a casting in terms of the size and weight in the same way as an iron casting producer. There are several variables that can affect seemingly similar ductile and grey iron castings in different ways. This blog will cover the most common cost drivers a buyer may not be simply aware of but need to thoroughly understand and be aware of. We have not factored the piece price in the equation. Here are the common factors that drive the cost of Grey and Ductile iron castings:

1. Yield: Yield is defined as the saleable amount of iron in the mould against the amount of iron that is poured into the mould. The added iron that is poured forms the gating and that forms the basis in suitably feeding the liquid iron into the casting mould to turn out the required casting quality and soundness. The gating’s efficiency used to manufacture ductile or grey iron castings will heavily impact the yield and thus the cost.
2. Parting Line: Parting plane is the plane that splits two pattern halves and makes allowances for the optimum placement of risers, gates and core prints that hold the core in the mould when cores are required. The parting lines decide the total number of castings made out of each mould.
3. Cores (when needed): are used to displace iron to form a passage or cavity in the casting that cannot be created using the pattern.

More on the factors that drive the cost of Grey and Ductile iron castings in the second part of the blog.