The paper presents the impact of biodegradable material - polycaprolactone (PCL) on selected properties of moulding sands. A self-hardening moulding sands with phenol-furfuryl resin, which is widely used in foundry practice, and an environmentally friendly self-hardening moulding sand with hydrated sodium silicate where chosen for testing. The purpose of the new additive in the case of synthetic resin moulding sands is to reduce their harmfulness to the environment and to increase their “elasticity” at ambient temperature. In the case of moulding sands with environmentally friendly hydrated sodium silicate binder, the task of the new additive is to increase the elasticity of the tested samples while preserving their ecological character. Studies have shown that the use of 5% PCL in moulding sand increases their flexibility at ambient temperature, both with organic and inorganic binders. The influence of the new additive on the deformation of the moulding sands at elevated temperatures has also been demonstrated.

The necessity of obtaining high quality castings forces both researchers and producers to undertake research in the field of moulding sands. The key is to obtain moulding and core sands which will ensure relevant technological parameters along with high environmental standards. The most important group in this research constitutes of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate. The aim of the article is to propose optimized parameters of hardening process of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate prepared in warm-box technology. This work focuses on mechanical and thermal deformation of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate and inorganic additives prepared in warm-box technology. Tested moulding sands were hardened in the temperature of 140oC for different time periods. Bending strength, thermal deformation and thermal degradation was tested. Chosen parameters were tested immediately after hardening and after 1h of cooling. Conducted research proved that it is possible to eliminate inorganic additives from moulding sands compositions. Moulding sands without additives have good enough strength properties and their economic and ecological character is improved.

The constantly developing and the broadly understood automation of production processes in foundry industry, creates both new working conditions - better working standards, faster and more accurate production - and new demands for previously used materials as well as opportunities to generate new foundry defects. Those high requirements create the need to develop further the existing elements of the casting production process. This work focuses on mechanical and thermal deformation of moulding sands prepared in hot-box technology. Moulding sands hardened in different time periods were tested immediately after hardening and after cooling. The obtained results showed that hardening time period in the range 30-120 sec does not influence the mechanical deformation of tested moulding sands significantly. Hot distortion tests proved that moulding sands prepared in hot-box technology can be characterized with stable thermal deformation up to the temperature of circa 320oC.

This paper presents a new perspective on the issue of reclamation of moulding and core sands. Taking as a premise that the reclamation process must remain on the surface of grains some not separated binding materials rests, it should be chosen the proper moulding sand’s composition that will be least harmful for the reclaim quality. There are two different moulding and core sands taken into examinations. The researches prove that a small correction of their compositions (hardener type) improves the quality of the received reclaims. Carried out in this article studies have shown that such an approach to the problem of reclamation of the moulding and core sands is needed and reasonable.

Casting industry has been enriched with the processes of mechanization and automation in production. They offer both better working standards, faster and more accurate production, but also have begun to generate new opportunities for new foundry defects. This work discusses the disadvantages of processes that can occur, to a limited extend, in the technologies associated with mould assembly and during the initial stages of pouring. These defects will be described in detail in the further part of the paper and are mainly related to the quality of foundry cores, therefore the discussion of these issues will mainly concern core moulding sands. Four different types of moulding mixtures were used in the research, representing the most popular chemically bonded moulding sands used in foundry practise. The main focus of this article is the analysis of the influence of the binder type on mechanical and thermal deformation in moulding sands.