In the knock-out process, as well as in the preliminary phase of moulding sand reclamation, the issue of energy demand for the process of crushing used sand agglutinations, preferably to single grains, is particularly important. At present, numerical values of moulding sand impact resistance, which would allow energy-related aspects of this process to be forecast, are not known, as such research has not been carried out. It seems that impact resistance tested on very small cross-section samples, which allows us to very precisely reveal some unique features of a moulding sand with organic and inorganic binders, is an important parameter, which so far has not been taken into account for evaluation of mechanical properties of moulding sands. Preliminary attempts to determine impact resistance of moulding sands have been carried out as part of own research of the author. The conducted investigations aimed at determining the relationships between the obtained values of tensile strength and impact resistance of moulding sands. In addition, the effect of holding samples at temperatures of 100oC, 200oC, 300oC on the value of impact resistance was determined, both for sands made with fresh and with reclaimed sand grains.

Energy conservation is an important step to overcome the energy crisis and prevent environmental pollution. Casting industry is a major consumer of energy among all the industries. The distribution of electrical energy consumed in all the departments of the foundry is presented. Nearly 70% of the energy is consumed especially in the melting department alone. Production of casting involves number of process variables. Even though lot of efforts has been taken to prevent defects, it occurs in the casting due to variables present in the process. This paper focuses the energy saving by improving the casting yield and by reducing the rejections. Furthermore an analysis is made on power consumption for melting in the induction furnace to produce defective castings and improvement in the casting yield. The energy consumed to produce defective castings in all other departments is also presented. This analysis reveals that without any further investment in the foundry, it is possible to save 3248.15 kWh of energy by reducing the rejections as well as by improving the casting yield. The redesign of the feeding system and the reduced major rejection shrinkage in the body casting improved the casting yield from 56% to 72% and also the effective yield from 12.89% to 66.80%.

The determination of the form of a probability density function (PDF3) of diameters for nodular particles by using a probability density function (PDF2), which form is empirically estimated from cross-sections of these nodules in a metallographic specimen, can be regarded as a special case of Wicksell's corpuscle problem (WCP). The estimation of the PDF3 for the nodular particles provides information about the kinetics of these particles nucleation, and so about the kinetics of their growth. This information is essential for building more accurate mathematical models of the alloy crystallization. In the paper there are presented two derivations of the methods used for the estimation of the PDF3 form. The first method bases on diameters received from a planar cross-section. The second one uses also data from the planar cross-section but not the diameters only chords. Both methods provide practical rules for the analysis of the empirical diameters’ and chord’s size distribution and allow to estimate the mean value of the external surface area of the particles.

The paper presents a detailed description of one of the newest methods of vacuum saturation of reinforcing preforms in gypsum molds. As an appropriate selection of the infiltration time is a crucial problem during realization of this process, aim of the analysis shown in the paper is to present methods of selection of subatmospheric pressure application time, a sequence of lowering and increasing pressure, as well as examining influence of structure of reinforcing preforms on efficiency of this process. To realize the aim, studies on infiltration of reinforcing preforms made of a corundum sinter of various granulation of sintered particles with a model alloy were conducted. The infiltration process analysis was carried out in two stages. The first stage consisted in investigation of influence of lengthening of sucking off air from the reinforcing preforms on efficiency of this process. In the second stage, an analysis of influence of a two-staged infiltration process on saturation of the studied materials was conducted. Because the studied preforms were of similar porosity, the obtained differences of the saturation level of particular preforms have shown, that the saturation process is influenced mostly by size of pores present in the reinforcement. Because of these differences, each reinforcement type requires individual selection of time and sequence of the saturation process. For reinforcements of higher pore diameter, it is sufficient to simply increase air sucking off time to improve the saturation, while for reinforcement of smaller pore diameter, it is a better solution to apply the two-staged process of sucking off air. Application of the proposed analysis method allows not only obtaining composite castings of higher quality, but also economical optimization of the whole process.

This article discusses issues related to continuous casting of brass. The tested material was CuZn39Pb2 brass with the use of continuous casting and different parameters of the process. The position consists of a melting furnace with a graphite refining pot of about 4000 cm3 chuting capacity, a graphite crystallizer of 9,5 mm nominal diameter, a primary and secondary cooling system and an extracting system as well. The analysis was carried out in terms of technological parameters of the process and type of charge. Highlighted: feedrate ingot, number of stops, and technological temperatures. The surface quality of the obtained ingots and the structure were analyzed. The most favorable conditions were indicated and technological recommendations indicated. They have been distinguished for ingots for plasticity and other technologies. Favorable casting conditions are low feed and low temperature. Due to the presence of impurities coming from the charge it is disadvantageous to have Ni greater than 0.053% by mass, and Fe more than 0.075% by mass. It is recommended to maintain a high zinc content in the melt which is associated with non-overheating of the metal during casting and earlier melting.

This article discusses results of an analysis of mechanical properties of a sintered material obtained from a mixture of elemental iron, copper and nickel powders ball milled for 60 hours. The powder consolidation was performed by hot pressing in a graphite mould. The hot pressing was carried out for 3 minutes at 900 °C and under a pressure of 35 MPa. The sintered specimens were tested for density, porosity, hardness and tensile strength. Their microstructures and fracture surfaces were also examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The study was conducted in order to determine the suitability of the sintered material for the manufacture of metal-bonded diamond tools. It was important to assess the effects of chemical composition and microstructure of the sintered material on its mechanical properties, which were compared with those of conventional metal bond material produced from a hot-pressed SMS grade cobalt powder. Although the studied material shows slightly lower strength and ductility as compared with cobalt, its hardness and offset yield strength are sufficiently high to meet the criteria for less demanding applications.

The thermal reclamation process as a utilisation method of spent moulding and core sands is more costly than other reclamation methods, but in the majority of cases it simultaneously provides the best cleaning of mineral matrices from organic binders. Thus, the application of the thermal analysis methods (TG-DSC), by determining the temperature range within which a degradation followed by a destruction of bounded organic binders in moulding sands, can contribute to the optimisation of the thermal reclamation process and to the limiting its realisation costs. The thermal analysis results of furan resin, one of the most often applied binder in foundry practice, are presented in the hereby paper. The influence of the heating rate of the sample - placed in the thermal analyser - on its degradation and destruction process under oxygen-free (argon) and oxygen (air) conditions, were compared. The recorded TG and DSC curves were used for analysing these processes as the temperature as well as the time function. The obtained results were analysed with regard to determining the required temperature of the thermal reclamation of the investigated organic binder. The usefulness of the developed methodology was found out, however under conditions of meeting several essential requirements concerning the repeatability of performed analyses.

The paper proposes a new electropulse apparatus for processing natural raw materials. The temperature of the crushing-and-reducing assembly of an electropulse plant is found. The results of ore crushing are presented and optimal engineering factors are offered. The elemental analysis of the test material is obtained. It is reported that the electropulse processing at the reduction stage made for significant increase in the content of non-ferrous and rare metals.

The present paper is a presentation of results of a study on morphology, chemical composition, material properties (HVIT, HIT, EIT), and nanoindentation elastic and plastic work for carbide precipitates in chromium cast iron containing 24% Cr. It has been found that the carbides differ in chemical composition, as well as in morphology and values characterizing their material properties. The carbides containing the most chromium which had the shape of thick and long needles were characterized with highest values of the analyzed material properties.

Bimetallic AZ91/AlSi17 samples were produced by compound casting. The casting process involved pouring the AZ91 magnesium alloy heated to 650oC onto a solid AlSi17 aluminum alloy insert placed in a steel mould. Prior to casting, the mould with the insert inside was heated to about 370oC. The bonding zone formed between AZ91 and AlSi17 had a thickness of about 200 μm; it was characterized by a non-homogeneous microstructure. Two different areas were distinguished in this zone: the area adjacent to the AZ91 and the area close to the AlSi17. In the area closest to the AZ91 alloy, a eutectic composed of an Mg17Al12 intermetallic phase and a solid solution of Al in Mg was observed. In bonding zone at a certain distance from the AZ91 alloy an Mg2Si phase co-occurred with the eutectic. In the area adjacent to the AlSi17 alloy, the structure consisted of Al3Mg2, Mg17Al12 and Mg2Si. The fine Mg2Si phase particles were distributed over the entire Mg-Al intermetallic phase matrix. The microhardness of the bonding zone was much higher than those of the materials joined; the microhardness values were in the range 203-298 HV. The shear strength of the AZ91/AlSi17 joint varied from 32.5 to 36 MPa.

Measurements of the hardening process course of the selected self-hardening moulding sands with the reclaimed material additions to the matrix, are presented in the hereby paper. Moulding sands were produced on the „Szczakowa” sand (of the Sibelco Company) as the matrix of the main fraction FG 0,40/0,32/0,20, while the reclaim was added to it in amounts of 20, 50 and 70%. Regeneration was performed with a horizontal mechanical regenerator capacity of 10 t/h. In addition, two moulding sands, one on the fresh sand matrix another on the reclaimed matrix, were prepared for comparison. Highly-fluid urea-furfuryl resin was used as a binder, while paratoluensulphonic acid as a hardener. During investigations the hardening process course was determined, it means the wave velocity change in time: cL = f(t). The hardening process kinetics was also assessed (dClx/dt = f(t)). Investigations were carried out on the research stand for ultrasound tests. In addition strength tests were performed.

The article presents an example of analysis of the influence of selected parameters deriving from data acquisition in foundries on the occurrence of Gas porosity defects (detected by Visual testing) in castings of ductile cast iron. The possibilities as well as related effectiveness of prediction of this kind of defects were assessed. The need to rationally limit the number of possible parameters affecting this kind of porosity was indicated. Authors also benefited from expert group's expertise in evaluating possible causes associated with the creation of the aforementioned defect. A ranking of these parameters was created and their impact on the occurrence of the defect was determined. The classic statistical tools were used. The possibility of unexpected links between parameters in case of uncritical use of these typical statistical tools was indicated. It was emphasized also that the acquisition realized in production conditions must be subject to a specific procedure ordering chronology and frequency of data measurements as well improving the casting quality control. Failure to meet these conditions will significantly affect the difficulties in implementing and correcting analysis results, from which INput/OUTput data is expected to be the basis for modelling for quality control.

High prices of tin and its limited resources, as well as several valuable properties characterising Cu-Sn alloys, cause searching for materials of similar or better properties at lower production costs. The influence of various nickel additions to CuSn10 casting bronze and to CuSn8 bronze of a decreased tin content was tested. Investigations comprised melting processes and casting of tin bronzes containing various nickel additions (up to 5%). The applied variable conditions of solidification and cooling of castings (metal and ceramic moulds) allowed to assess these alloys sensitivity in forming macro and microstructures. In order to determine the direction of changes in the analysed Cu-Sn-Ni alloys, the metallographic and strength tests were performed. In addition, the solidification character was analysed on the basis of the thermal analysis tests. The obtained results indicated the influence of nickel in the solidification and cooling ways of the analysed alloys (significantly increased temperatures of the solidification beginning along with increased nickel fractions in Cu-Sn alloys) as well as in the microstructure pattern (clearly visible grain size changes). The hardness and tensile strength values were also changed. It was found, that decreasing of the tin content in the analysed bronzes to which approximately 3% of nickel was added, was possible, while maintaining the same ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and hardness (HB) and improved plasticity (A5).

The problem of production flow in steel casting foundry is analysed in this paper. Because of increased demand and market competition, a reorganisation of the foundry process is required, including the elimination of manual labour and the implementation of automation and robotisation of certain processes. The problem is how to determine the real difference in work efficiency between human workers and robots. We show an analysis of the production efficiency of steel casting foundry operated by either human operators or industrial robots. This is a problem from the field of Operations Research for which the Discrete Event Simulation (DES) method is used. Three models are developed, including the foundry before and after automation when taking into consideration parameters of the availability of machines, operators and robots. We apply the OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) indicator to present how the availability, performance and quality parameters influence the foundry’s productivity. In addition, stability of the simulation model was analysed. This approach allows for a better representation of real production processes and the obtained results can be used for further economic analysis.

The article presents results of research on the influence of variable parameters of horizontal continuous casting on the structure of AlCu4MgSi (EN AW-2017A) alloy ingots. The special character of the process allows for a continuous change of some of its parameters, namely, of the casting speed and of the rate of the cooling fluid flow thorough the crystallizer. These parameters have a significant impact on the crystallization process of the liquid metal. Depending on the cooling rate, intensity of the convection inside the solidifying alloy, and its chemical composition, there may arise some differences in the structure of the cast. In this study, ingots obtained at different casting speeds have been analyzed. The research methodology, based on light microscopy and electron microscopy (SEM), as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), allowed for a thorough examination of the structure of the studied materials. The results were shown that an increase in the ingot casting speed leads to an increase in the average grain surface area.

The effectiveness of cast iron spheroidization with FeSiMg master alloy by the traditional method and using a reaction chamber placed in the cavity of foundry mould was compared. The method of cast iron treatment in mould cavity using a reaction chamber is an innovative technology developed by the Foundry Research Institute in Krakow. The effectiveness of the spheroidization process carried out by both methods was checked on a series of test castings. The article also presents the results of metallographic examinations and mechanical testing, including the discussion of magnesium yield and its assimilation rate.

Access to up-to-date information on technology, innovation, source publications, and the materials and services offered in a particular industry is very important for both industrial plants and departmental research centres. It should be noted that obtaining such information using publicly available search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Bindu (mainly used in China) is only apparently easy because, due to their versatility, they deliver results with great redundancy. This leads to the need to analyze large data sets by linguistic methods or "manually", which is very tedious and time consuming. In this situation, it was considered reasonable to undertake studies aimed at acquiring relatively simple IT tools, i.e. crawlers, which allow their users to selectively search for information in a particular problem area, which in this particular case is casting. The intention of this work was to collect and analyze the experimental material that would allow describing the characteristics of the above solutions from the point of view of the range of their application, the quality of the results achieved, and possible limitations and preferences taking into account user needs [1, 2].

The paper presents the results of the application of a statistical analysis to evaluate the effect of the chemical composition of the die casting Al-Si alloys on its basic mechanical properties. The examinations were performed on the hypoeutectic Al-Si alloy type EN AC-46000 and, created on its basis, a multi-component Al-Si alloy containing high-melting additions Cr, Mo, W and V. The additions were introduced into the base Al-Si alloy in different combinations and amounts (from 0,05% to 0,50%). The tensile strength Rm; the proof stress Rp0,2; the unit elongation A and the hardness HB of the examined Al-Si alloys were determined. The data analysis and the selection of Al-Si alloy samples without the Cr, Mo, W and V additions were presented; a database containing the independent variables (Al-Si alloy's chemical composition) and dependent variables (Rm; Rp0,2; A and HB) for all the considered variants of Al-Si alloy composition was constructed. Additionally, an analysis was made of the effect of the Al-Si alloy's component elements on the obtained mechanical properties, with a special consideration of the high-melting additions Cr, Mo, V and W. For the optimization of the content of these additions in the Al-Si alloy, the dependent variables were standardized and treated jointly. The statistical tools were mainly the multivariate backward stepwise regression and linear correlation analysis and the analysis of variance ANOVA. The statistical analysis showed that the most advantageous effect on the jointly treated mechanical properties is obtained with the amount of the Cr, Mo, V and W additions of 0,05 to 0,10%.

The paper presents the effect of pre-heat treatment on the mechanical properties of ductile cast iron with elevated content of Cu and Mo elements. Austempered Ductile Iron is a material with non-standard properties, combining high tensile strength and abrasion resistance with very good plasticity. In addition, it is prone to strain hardening and have good machining abilities. The study was conducted for five designed heat treatment cycles. The variables were the time and temperature of the pre-heat treatment, followed by one of two standard heat treatments for ADI cast iron. The aim of the authors was fragmentation of the grains of perlite during the initial heat treatment. It is presumed, that subsequent heat treatment will cause further refinement of the microstructure than would be the case without initial heat treatment. Diffusion is much faster than in case of ferritic matrix of cast iron. The results will be used to evaluate material for the production of parts of equipment that must operate under extreme load conditions.

The impact of casting conditions on microstructure a and mechanical properties was described, especially for cast products from AlSi9Cu3 alloy. Particular attention was paid to the parameters of dendritic structure: DAS 1 and DAS 2. Selected mechanical properties (by static tension test) of test castings made using basic technologies of casting: GSC - gravity sand casting, GDC - gravity die-casting and HPDC - high-pressure die-casting, are presented for cast-on test bars and cast separately. Casts were made of the same alloy AlSi9Cu3. Fractures and the zone near the fracture (after static tension test) was subjected to VT - visual tests, PT - penetration tests and metallographic tests. The condition of porosity (fracture zone) was also assessed. The analysis of virtual results was performed using the NovaFlow & Solid system together with the database and they were compared to experimental tests. This way of validation was applied in order to assess the correlation between the local rate of cooling and the size of DAS for GSC, GDC and HPDC technologies. Finally, the correlation between the parameters of structure and mechanical properties with regard to the impact of porosity was signalized.

Characteristics of the microstructure of corrosion-resistant cast 24Cr-5Ni-2.5Mo duplex steel after introduction of 0.98, 1.67 and 4.3% Si were described. Based on the test results it has been found that silicon addition introduced to the corrosion-resistant cast two-phase duplex steel significantly reduces austenite content in the alloy matrix. Increasing silicon content in the test alloy to 4.3% has resulted, in addition to the elimination of austenite, also in the precipitation of Si-containing intermetallic phases at the grain boundaries and inside the grains. The precipitates were characterized by varying content of Cr and Mo, indicating the presence in the structure of more than one type of the brittle phase characteristic for this group of materials. The simulation using Thermo-Calc software has confirmed the presence of ferrite in all tested alloys. In the material containing 4.3% Si, the Cr and Si enriched precipitates, such as G phase and Cr3Si were additionally observed to occur.

As-cast Mg-6Li-0.3Zn-0.6Y and Mg-6Li-1.2Zn-1.2Y (wt%) alloys were prepared and extruded at 260 oC with an extrusion ratio of 25. The microstructure and mechanical behavior of as-cast and extruded alloys are reported and discussed. The results show that Mg-6Li-1.2Zn- 1.2Y alloy is composed of α-Mg, β-Li, and W-Mg3Zn3Y2 phases while Mg-6Li-0.3Zn-0.6Y alloy contains α-Mg, β-Li, W-Mg3Zn3Y2 phase and X-Mg12ZnY. After hot extrusion, the microstructure of specimens is refined and the average grains size of extruded alloys is 15 μm. Dynamic recrystallization occurs during the extrusion, leading to grain refinement of test alloys. Both the strength and elongation of test alloys are improved by extrusion. The extruded Mg-6Li-0.3Zn-0.6Y alloy possesses an ultimate strength of 225 MPa with an elongation of 18% while the strength and elongation of Mg-6Li-1.2Zn-1.2Y alloy are 206 MPa and 28%, respectively. The X-phase in Mg-6Li-0.3Zn- 0.6Y is beneficial to the improvement of strength, but will lead to the decrease of ductility.

Gas emission from casting moulds, cores and coatings applied for sand and permanent moulds is one of the fundamental reasons of casting defects occurrence. In the previous studies, gas emission was measured in two ways: normalized, in which the evolving gas volume was measured during heating of the moulding sand sample in a sealed flask, or by measuring the amount of gas from sand core (sample) which is produced during the pouring of liquid metal. After the pouring process the sand mould is heated very unequally, the most heated areas are layers adjacent to the liquid metal. The emission of gas is significantly larger from the surface layer than from the remaining ones. New, original method of measuring kinetics of gas emission from very thin layers of sand moulds heated by liquid metal developed by the authors is presented in the hereby paper. Description of this new method and the investigation results of kinetics of gas emission from moulding sand with furan and alkyd resin are shown. Liquid grey cast iron and Al-Si alloy were used as a heat source in the sand moulds. Comparison of the kinetics of gas emission of these two kinds of moulding sands filled with two different alloys was made. The momentary metal temperature in sand mould was assigned to the kinetics of gas emission, what creates a full view of the possibility of formation of casting defects of the gaseous origin. Moulding sand with alkyd resin is characterized by larger gas emission; however gases are emitted slower than in the case of moulding sands with furan resin. This new investigation method has a high repeatability and is the only one which gives a full view of phenomenon’s in the surface layer which determines quality of the casings. The obtained results are presented on several graphs and analyzed in detail. They have a great application value and can be used in the production of iron as well as light metal alloy castings.

The research was concerned with the influence of chemical composition of austenitic steels on their mechanical properties. Resulting properties of castings from austenitic steels are significantly influenced by the solidification time that affects the size of the primary grain as well as the layout of elements within the dendrite and its parts with regard to the last solidification points in the interdendritic melt. During solidification an intensive segregation of all admixtures occurs in the melt, which causes a whole range of serious metallurgical defects and it has also a significant influence on subsequent precipitation of carbides and intermetallic phases. Chemical heterogeneity then affects the structure and mechanical properties of the casting. In a planned experiment, we cast melted steels containing 18 to 28 % Cr and 8 to 28 % Ni with variable carbon and nitrogen contents. Testing the tensile strength of the cast specimens we could determine the Rp0.2, Rm, and A5 values. The dependence of the mechanical properties on the chemical content was described by regression equations. The planned experiment results allow us to control the chemical content for the given austenitic steel quality to achieve the required values of the mechanical properties.