A hot tear is a severe defect in a casting caused by tensile stresses during the final stages of solidification. As the metal cools and shrinks, the mold or core restricts its movement, pulling the weak, semi-solid metal apart. It appears as a jagged, irregular crack, often oxidized because it formed at high temperature.
Heard on the job
We got a massive hot tear on that flange because the core sand was too rigid to let it shrink.
Insider tip
You can often fix hot tearing by using a more collapsible core or changing the gating system to feed the area better.
Also heard as
- hot crack