Effect of Iron Oxide on Mechanical Properties of Green Sand Mould

Abstract

The present day requirement of industries is to produce a good quality of castings with minimum cost. The quality of the cast products that are produced utilizing quartz sand based moulds largely depends on the mould properties, namely compression, shear strengths and permeability which depend on input parameters. This study presents the statistical evaluation of selected properties of moulding sands chromite and zircon sands with addition of various binders and various additives. It is expected that the sand could be put to use in making mouldings for casting steel components for possible replacement of the imported products. The results obtained showed the existence of peak values for the green compressive strength and the permeability of the unwashed sand, with set amounts of binding clay, bentonite,coal-dust and iron-oxide additives. In addition, the working range for each type of property was seen to vary with the amount of water present in the sand. The results demonstrated the possible utility of the sand for making of sand casting moulds.