MSE 3231 , Lecture 18

Moulding and Casting Methods

2. Greensand system
Ref:
[1] Heine, Loper & Rosenthal, Principles of Metal Casting, McGraw-Hill, 1976
[2] Beeley, Foundry Technology, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001
Courtesy: AKMB Rashid, Dept. of MME, BUET.

Topics to discuss today …

1. Introduction to greensand moulding aggregates

2. Characteristics of greensand moulding aggregates
3. Ingredients of greensand moulding aggregates
4. Clay-water bonding
5. Testing and control of moulding sand aggregate
 Introduction

 Green moulding sand process has a long history.

 A large production of small and medium castings is cast in
greensand moulds.
 Uses natural sand as the main ingredient for moulding.

 Benefits of greensand systems over dry sand or other sand systems:

1. The sand is readily reconditioned
2. Reduced risk of hot tearing in castings
3. Moulds join closely producing little „flash‟
4. Suitable for mechanised systems.

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 Recent developments in greensand system:

1. Modernised melting technique to use inexpensive molten metal.
2. Development of sand treatment, its equipment and sand control system.
3. Mechanisation of moulding, shake-out and sand transport.

 Moulds for making a ton of castings may require 4 to 5 tons of moulding

sand aggregate
The sand-metal ratio may vary from 10:1 to 0.25:1 depending on the type and size
of castings and moulding methods employed

 In any case, the tonnage of sand which must be handled in a sand casting
foundry is large, and its quality must be controlled to make good
castings.

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 Characteristics of
greensand moulding aggregates

 A foundry moulding mixture passes through four main production stages:

(1) preparation and distribution, (2) mould and core production,
(3) casting, and (4) cleaning and reclamation.

 The property requirements of the materials are generally determined by

moulding and casting conditions
for integrated sand systems, the preparation and reclamation stages are
also considered

 From a general viewpoint, the moulding sand aggregate must be readily

mouldable and the mould cavity should retain its shape till the molten
metal solidifies to produce a defect-free casting.

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1. At the moulding stage:

• Flowability – ability of the material to be compacted to a uniform density
• Green strength – ability to retain the shape of mould during handling

2. During casting:
• Thermal stability – ability to retain shape at high temperature
• Refractoriness – ability to withstand high temperatures without fusion
• Dry strength – to withstand erosive forces and pressure of liquid metal
• Hot strength – to withstand distortion and deformation during heating at high temperature
• Collapsibility – ease to break down in knockout
• Permeability – a path for the escape of gases
• Fineness – to prevent metal penetration and produce smooth casting surfaces

3. At storage:
• Bench life – ability to retain moulding properties on standing or storage
• Durability – capacity to withstand repeated cycles of heating and cooling (reusability)
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 Ingredients of
greensand moulding aggregates

1. Sand
• granular materials of size 0.05 – 2.0 mm produced from disintegrated or crushed
rocks
• “sand” denotes a class of several minerals: silica, zircon, olivine, chromite, and
ground ceramic minerals

2. Clay
• added 2 to 50 % of sand as a binder
• “clay” are residual or weathered products of various silicate rocks;
groups of clay minerals used in foundry include: fireclay (kaolinite), bentonites
(montmorillonite), and some special clays (halloysite and illite)
• plate or flake structures form of particle size range 20 to 0.1 micron.
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3. Moisture
• as essential as the clay substance itself; bonding strength is developed by
the sand-clay-water system
• about 1.5 to 8 % moisture is added to activate the clay in the sand, causing
the aggregate to develop plasticity and strength

4. Other additives
• different organic or inorganic materials are added to impart certain properties

Purposes Additives
As binder Cereal, molasses, resin, linseed oil, water glass
Increase collapsibility Cereals, molasses, fibrous materials
Reduce expansion problems Cereals, coal dust, fibrous materials
Increase green strength Coal dust, molasses
Increase dry strength Cereals, resin, molasses, coal dust
Increase hot strength Iron oxide, silica flour
Reduce metal penetration Coal dust, iron oxide, silica flour
Improve surface finish Coal dust, resin
Increase flowability Resin, fibrous materials
Increase bench life Cereals, resin, molasses
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 effect of clay

• the basic function of clay is bonding.

• forms a thin coating around each grain and produce

cohesion between the grains.

• if the layers become continuous and then

progressively thicker, further increase in bonding
cannot be achieved.

Dry compressive strength developed:

 Western bentonites : > 80 psi
bentonite-bonded silica sand  Southern bentonites : 40 – 80 psi
 Fire clays (kaolinite) : moderate
 Fire clay plus : > 200 psi
western bentonite

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Clay-saturated sands
• The most versatile greensand
• Reduces casting defects due to
sand expansion, erosion etc.
• High strength (GCS = 14–20 psi)
• Require adequate ramming
(> 85 mould hardness)

bentonite clay-sand-water mixtures

Clay-unsaturated sand systems

Clay requirement for saturation • 4 – 9 % bentonites; 10 – 15 % fire clays
• Depends on purity and type of clay, • Used for lighter castings where expansion
base sand, and additives defects, erosion etc. are lesser problems.
• 8 – 12 % bentonites; 20 – 25 % fire clay
(Sand fineness AFS 60–100)

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 effect of water

• Temper water and free water.

• The green strength increases up to a maximum

and then decreases.

• Dry strength continues to increase due to

improved distribution of the binder and the
higher bulk densities attainable.

• Too much water causes excessive plasticity

and dry strength.

• Too little water fails to develop adequate

strength and plasticity.

• control of moisture in the moulding sand to

bentonite-bonded silica sand
develop the best properties is a necessary
basis of sand control

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effect of mould hardness

effect of clay content on relationship between mould hardness and green compressive strength

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 southern bentonite – sand mixture

kaolinite – sand mixture western bentonite – sand mixture 13/27

southern bentonite – sand mixture western bentonite – sand mixture kaolinite – sand mixture

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 Clay–Water Bonding

 bonding between dry clay does not occur

 bond is developed only when clay particles are hydrated

 Several theories proposed for clay-water bonding:

1. electrostatic bonding
2. bonding due to surface tension forces, and
3. bonding due to inter-particle friction

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electrostatic bonding

 bonding between a network of dipolar forces operating at the sand-clay and clay-
clay interfaces, initiated by the preferential adsorption of positive ions and negative
ions on combined water and clay (hydrated) surfaces

 when water is added to dry clay, the negative hydroxyl (OH–) ions are adsorbed on
the nuclei of the clay atoms, owing to unsatisfied valence bonds at the surface of
the clay crystal, and form an integral part of the crystal.

 so the clay-water particle becomes negatively charged.

 the positive (H+) ions of water are attracted by the negative clay ions, but
repelled by the nuclei of the clay atoms, with the result that the positive ions
take up equilibrium positions.

 the hydrogen ions and the adsorbed hydroxyl ions about the clay particle
comprise a so-called double diffuse layer. This formation is called a micelle.
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 clay particle

a clay micelle

• surrounding the clay particle are negatively charged hydroxyl ions positioned at varying
distances from the particle.
• outside this layer, positively charged hydrogen ions also are located at various distances
from the clay centre; hence the term double diffuse layer applies.
• this layer is rigidly attached to the surface of the clay particle and is considered to behave
as a solid.

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 particles of sand (quartz) also form micelles by the adsorption of hydroxyl and
hydrogen ions.

 when quartz and clay micelles are formed in each other‟s presence, the hydroxyl ions
of the clay micelle exhibit an attraction for the hydrogen ions contained in the quartz
micelles.

 thus a clay dipole is formed and the result is an electrostatic bond between sand
and clay particles and between clay particles

excess
water
x hydrated
quartz grain

clay
micelles
(a) Micellular dipoles, showing the localized
concentration of adsorbed negatively charged
hydroxyl ions and positively charged ions
(b) Schematic sketch showing disposition of clay
and quartz dipoles. In green sand the intermicellular
voids are filled with water.
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  The maximum attractive force obtained at an optimum distance of intermolecular
spacing x.

 There are many such dipoles in a clay-water medium.

 Depending on the type of clay, a maximum degree of hydration is necessary to

develop a dipole completely.

 This is why the strengths of clay-bonded sands increase with increasing amounts
of water, up to a maximum value.

x+z
 As the amount of water is increased
further, water enters the spaces
between the dipoles to a distance
greater than x, resulting in a decrease x+z
in the net intermicellular force.

z = excess water
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bonding by surface tension forces

 bonding resulted due to the surface tension of the water surrounding

the clay and clay-sand particles

 surface layers of water acting on a stretched membrane of hydrated

clay, forcing the particles together

 when the water layer becomes thinner by drying, the forces holding
the particles together increase.

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 bonding due to inter-particle friction

 bonding resulted following the principles of “block and wedge”

theory.

 the inter-particular friction developed between sand particles

under pressure

 particles are jammed against their neighbours during ramming.

 opposes further deformation, and causes a bridging action

between long rows of favourably oriented particles and the
sides of the flask.

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Testing and control

of moulding sand aggregate

• Periodic tests are necessary as properties changes during use.

• Test may be either chemical or mechanical in nature.
• Various tests are designed and standardised
• To determine the properties of moulding sand

• To have uniform properties, control is necessary.

• Even though control is done, sand properties will change from time to time.
• To have good control of the sand properties, control values are to be determined.

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 sand testing techniques

• Majority are designed to measure the bulk properties of an aggregate.

• Sensitive to small variations in mixing conditions and specimen preparation
• Rigid standardisation is needed at all stages.

• Some of the most important tests routinely performed in foundry:

1. Loss on ignition 7. Permeability
2. AFS sieve analysis 8. Flowability
3. AFS clay content 9. Collapsibility
4. Moisture content 10. Shatter index
5. Mould hardness 11. Surface stability index
6. Compression strength

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greensand control properties

1. Moisture Content
2. Permeability
3. Green Compressive Strength (GCS)
4. Green Surface Stability Index
5. Flowability
6. Clay Content
7. Loss on Ignition

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 control properties and standard control values

Properties Steel Cast Iron Copper Aluminium Alloy

Moisture content 3.2 3.2 4.0 4.0

Permeability 200 150 20 20
GCS, kg/cm2 0.8 1.0 0.6 0.5
Green surface stability index 92 88 86 85
Flowability 72 75 75 75
Clay content 8 10 12 14
Loss on ignition 3 4 5 6

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control property and resulting problems

Property Too Low Too High

Reduced permeability, Low green strength,

Low green strength, Bad surface stability, Reduced sand flowability, Low mould
Moisture
Edge friability hardness, Blow holes (pin holes), Swollen
castings
Blow holes (pin holes), Misruns, Hard
Permeability Rough surface, Metal penetration
castings, Difficult pattern draw
Bad surface stability, Friable mould, Sand
Bad flowability, Under compaction, Rough
Strength inclusion, Mould erosion, Scabbing, Poor
casting surface
pattern strip
Surface Stability Edge friability, Sand inclusions, Mould
Index erosion, Scabbing
Soft mould, Sand inclusions, Swollen
Flowability
castings, Bad surface stability mould

Low strength, Bad surface stability, Friable Reduced permeability, Knock-out problems,
Clay Content
mould, Sand inclusions, Erosion defect, Increase of moisture content, Cracked
(Active Clay)
Scabbings castings
Loss on ignition Poor surface finish, Scabbing Blow or pin-holes
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