Effects of Ingate types on Some Mechanical Properties of Cast Aluminium 6063 Alloy

This study examined the effects of inner-gate (ingate) types on some mechanical properties of cast aluminium 6063  (Al-Mg-Si) alloy. In this work, rods of aluminium 6063 alloy were cast using top gating, bottom gating and parting  line gating designs. Ingot of 6063 aluminium alloy was melted using crucible furnace and poured into already pre pared sand moulds. The casting from each gating system design was machined and tested for tensile, hardness and  impact energy. The results from the tensile test revealed strength of 133.29, 122. 46 and 101.26 MPa for bottom  gating, parting line gating and top gating respectively. Also, the results from the hardness test gave 61.25, 43.25 and  36.25 BHN for bottom gating, parting line gating and top gating respectively while impact test revealed that castings  from top gating,  parting line gating  and bottom gating systems gave impact energy of 38.800, 36.108 and 34.476  Joules respectively. The study showed that the bottom gating system design produces casting of high tensile and  hardness strength but least impact strength, followed by castings from parting line gating system while castings from  top gating system produced castings of low tensile and hardness strength but high impact energy. Therefore, bottom  gating design is recommended for use in applications that require high values of tensile strength and hardness while  top gating design is recommended for use in applications that require high impact energy