The ablation casting technology consists in pouring castings in single-use moulds made from the mixture of sand and watersoluble binder. After pouring the mould with liquid metal, while the casting is still solidifying, the mould destruction (washing out, erosion) takes place using a stream of cooling medium, which in this case is water. The following paper focuses on the selection of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate technologies for moulds devoted to the ablation casting of aluminum alloys. It has been proposed to use different types of moulding sands with a water-soluble binder, which is hydrated sodium silicate. The authors showed that the best kind of moulding sands for moulds for Al alloy casting will be moulding sands hardened with physical factors – through dehydration. The use of microwave hardened moulding sands and moulding sands made in hot-box technology has been proposed. The tests were carried out on moulding sands with different types of modified binder and various inorganic additives. The paper compares viscosity of different binders used in the research and thermal degradation of moulding sands with tested binders. The paper analyzes the influence of hardening time periods on bending strength of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate prepared in hot-box technology. The analysis of literature data and own research have shown that molding sand with hydrated sodium silicate hardened by dehydration is characterized by sufficient strength properties for the ablation foundry of Al alloys.

Recently, some major changes have occurred in the structure of the European foundry industry, such as a rapid development in the production of castings from compacted graphite iron and light alloys at the expense of limiting the production of steel castings. This created a significant gap in the production of heavy steel castings (exceeding the weight of 30 Mg) for the metallurgical, cement and energy industries. The problem is proper moulding technology for such heavy castings, whose solidification and cooling time may take even several days, exposing the moulding material to a long-term thermal and mechanical load. Owing to their technological properties, sands with organic binders (synthetic resins) are the compositions used most often in industrial practice. Their main advantages include high strength, good collapsibility and knocking out properties, as well as easy mechanical reclamation. The main disadvantage of these sands is their harmful effect on the environment, manifesting itself at various stages of the casting process, especially during mould pouring. This is why new solutions are sought for sands based on organic binders to ensure their high technological properties but at the same time less harmfulness for the environment. This paper discusses the possibility of reducing the harmful effect of sands with furfuryl binders owing to the use of resins with reduced content of free furfuryl alcohol and hardeners with reduced sulphur content. The use of alkyd binder as an alternative to furfuryl binder has also been proposed and possible application of phenol-formaldehyde resins was considered.

The essence of ablation casting technology consists in pouring castings in single-use moulds made from the mixture of sand and a watersoluble binder. After pouring the mould with liquid metal, while the casting is still solidifying, the mould destruction (washing out, erosion) takes place using a stream of cooling medium, which in this case is water. This paper focuses on the selection of moulding sands with hydrated sodium silicate for moulds used in the ablation casting. The research is based on the use of Cordis binder produced by the Hüttenes-Albertus Company. It is a new-generation inorganic binder based on hydrated sodium silicate. Its hardening takes place under the effect of high temperature. As part of the research, loose moulding mixtures based on the silica sand with different content of Cordis binder and special Anorgit additive were prepared. The reference material was sand mixture without the additive. The review of literature data and the results of own studies have shown that moulding sand with hydrated sodium silicate hardened by dehydration is characterized by sufficient strength properties to be used in the ablation casting process. Additionally, at the Foundry Research Institute in Krakow, preliminary semi-industrial tests were carried out on the use of Cordis sand technology in the manufacture of moulds for ablation casting. The possibility to use these sand mixtures has been confirmed in terms of both casting surface quality and sand reclamation.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the possibility of using moulds made from the environmentally friendly sands with hydrated sodium silicate in modified ablation casting. The ablation casting technology is primarily intended for castings with diversified wall thickness and complex shapes made in sand moulds. The article presents the effect of binder content and hardening time on the bending strength Rg u of moulding sands with binders based on hydrated sodium silicate hardened by microwave technology. The aim of the research was to develop an optimal sand composition that would provide the strength necessary to make a mould capable of withstanding the modified ablation casting process. At the same time, the sand composition should guarantee the susceptibility of the mould to the destructive action of the ablation medium, which in this case is water. Tests have shown that microwave hardening provides satisfactory moulds’ strength properties even at a low binder content in the sand mixture.

The ablation casting technology consists in pouring castings in single-use moulds made from the mixture of sand and water-soluble binder. After pouring the mould with liquid metal the mould is destructed (washed out) using a stream of cooling medium, which in this case is water. The process takes place while the casting is still solidifying.

The following paper focuses on testing the influence of the modified ablation casting of aluminum alloy on casts properties produced in moulds with hydrated sodium silicate binder. The authors showed that the best kind of moulding sands for Al alloy casting will be those hardened with physical factors – through dehydration. The analysis of literature data and own research have shown that the moulding sand with hydrated sodium silicate hardened by dehydration is characterized by sufficient strength properties for the modified ablation casting of Al alloys. In the paper the use of microwave hardened moulding sands has been proposed.

The moulds were prepared in the matrix specially designed for this technology. Two castings from the AlSi7Mg alloy were made; one by traditional gravity casting and the other by gravity casting using ablation.

The conducted casts tests showed that the casting made in modified ablation casting technology characterizes by higher mechanical properties than the casting made in traditional casting technology. In both experimental castings the directional solidification was observed, however in casting made by ablation casting, dimensions of dendrites in the structure at appropriate levels were smaller.

Ablation casting is a technological process in which the increased cooling rate causes microstructure refinement, resulting in improved mechanical properties of the final product. This technology is particularly suitable for the manufacture of castings with intricate shapes and thin walls. Currently, the ablation casting process is not used in the Polish industry. This article presents the results of strength tests carried out on moulding sands based on hydrated sodium silicate hardened in the Floster S technology, intended for ablation casting of the AlSi7Mg (AK7) aluminium alloy. When testing the bending and tensile strengths of sands, parameters such as binder and hardener content were taken into account. The sand mixtures were tested after 24h hardening at room temperature. The next stage of the study describes the course of the ablation casting process, starting with the manufacture of foundry mould from the selected moulding mixture and ending in tests carried out on the ready casting to check the surface quality, structure and mechanical properties. The results were compared with the parallel results obtained on a casting gravity poured into the sand mould and solidifying in a traditional way at ambient temperature.