Experimental Study of Inorganic Foundry Sand Binders for Mold and Cast Quality

The interest in inorganic foundry binders has been rising steadily in recent times due to their favorable environmental characteristics. This paper compares the mold quality and cast quality attained with different inorganic binders. Three different types of sand and five different inorganic binders were used for the mold quality study. Of the inorganic binders, there was liquid sodium silicate used in different hardening methods, a geopolymer binder, and also solid sodium silicate. The mold quality was assessed through bending strength, residual bending strength, tensile strength, and loss on ignition measurement. A total of 12 castings were made using molds of different binders and sand materials. The cast quality was then assessed by tracking changes in dimension and the surface quality of final castings. Inorganic binders performed well in terms of mold strength and very well in terms of loss on ignition but there is room for improvement in the surface quality of the castings attained.