The paper presents the test results of molding compounds, sand casting molds and their analysis. The subject of testing was compound containing furan resins prepared according to the following recipe: matrix – regenerate 90% + fresh sand – 10%, furan resin – 1.10% by weight, hardener – 0.40% by weight. The impact of adhesive type and its quantity (Quan = 0.90, 1.1 and 1.5%) on the strength indexes of molding compound subject to densification was analyzed. The publication presents the test results: tensile strength Rm, compressive strength Rc and flexural strength Rg, as well as compound permeability as function of its density. The analysis also covers the impact of density level on mold strength and the distribution of density level along the mold height.

Based on the test results, it was found that the best method to obtain high strength molds made from compounds with chemical adhesives was to densify it by vibrating the system: match plate – molding flask – compound filling the mold. The effectiveness of this densification method depends on the amplitude and frequency of vibrations.

The paper presents the results of analyzes of gases emitted during exposure to high temperature foundry molding sands, where binders are

organic resins. As a research tool has been used special gas chromatograph designed to identify odorous compounds including the group of

alkanes.

The paper presents the results of thermoanalytical studies by TG/DTG/DTA, FTIR and GC/MS for the oil sand used in art and precision foundry. On the basis of course of DTG and DTA curves the characteristic temperature points for thermal effects accompanying the thermal decomposition reactions were determined. This results were linked with structural changes occurred in sample. It has been shown that the highest weight loss of the sample at temperatures of about 320°C is associated with destruction of C-H bonds (FTIR). In addition, a large volume of gases and high amounts of compounds from the BTEX group are generated when liquid metal interacts with oil sand. The results show, that compared to other molding sands used in foundry, this material is characterized by the highest gaseous emissions and the highest harmfulness, because benzene emissions per kilogram of oil sand are more than 7 times higher than molding sand with furan and phenolic binders and green sand with bentonite and lustrous carbon carrier.

Sand molding casting has been widely used for a long time. But, one of its main drawbacks is that surface quality of the castings is not good enough for some applications. The purposes of this research were to investigate the effect of addition of sawdust ash of rubber wood (SARW) on molding sand properties and the surface quality of iron castings and to find an appropriate level of SARW with the appropriate properties of the iron castings. The molding sand compositions for making a sand mold consisted of the recycled molding sand, bentonite, water and SARW. The percentage levels of SARW were 0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.4%. The different proportions of molding sand samples were investigated for the molding sand properties including permeability, compression strength and hardness. The results showed that addition of SARW had an effect on the molding sand properties. The appropriate percentage proportion of molding sand was obtained at 95.8% recycled molding sand, 0.8% bentonite, 3% water and 0.4% SARW. There were statistically significant differences of mean surface roughness and hardness values of the iron castings made from molding sand samples without SARW addition and the appropriate percentage proportion of molding sand. In addition, the average surface roughness value of the iron castings made from the sand mold with the appropriate percentage proportion of molding sand was ~40% lower than those of the iron castings made from molding sand samples without SARW addition.

In this article, there were presented results of research on influence of reclamation process on the ecological quality of reclaim sand with furan resin used in nonferrous foundry. The quality of reclaimed sand is mainly define by two group of chemical substances from elution of reclaimed sand: Dissolves Organic Carbon (DOC) and Total Dissolves Solids (TDS). Reclaimed sand used in test was prepared in experimental thermal reclaimer and mechanical vibration reclaimer REGMAS installed in Faculty of Foundry Engineering at University of Science and Technology in Krakow. The reference point is molding sand shaking out and crumble in jaw crusher. Test of elution was made in acreditation laboratory in Center For Research and Environmental Control in Katowice up to the standard with Dissolves Organic Carbon (DOC) - PN-EN 1484:1999; Total Dissolves Solids (TDS) - PN-EN 15216:2010. The standard for elution test is PN-EN 12457- 4:2006. Except that we were made loss of ignition test, to check how many resin was rest on sand grains.