More and more foundry plants applying moulding sands with water-glass or its substitutes for obtaining the high-quality casting surface at the smallest costs, consider the possibility of implementing two-layer moulds, in which e.g. the facing sand is a sand with an organic binder (no-bake type) and the backing sand is a sand with inorganic binder. Both kinds of sands must have the same chemical reaction. The most often applied system is the moulding sand on the water-glass or geopolymer bases – as the backing sand and the moulding sand from the group of self-hardening sands with a resol resin – as the facing sand. Investigations were performed for the system: moulding sand with inorganic GEOPOL binder or moulding sand with water glass (as a backing sand) and moulding sand, no-bake type, with a resol resin originated from various producers: Rezolit AM, Estrofen, Avenol NB 700 (as a facing sand). The LUZ apparatus, produced by Multiserw Morek, was adapted for investigations. A special partition with cuts was mounted in the attachment for making test specimens for measuring the tensile strength. This partition allowed a simultaneous compaction of two kinds of moulding sands. After 24 hours of hardening the highest values were obtained for the system: Geopol binder - Avenol resin.

The article contains the results of tests performed under the target project in Hardtop Foundry Charsznica. The objective of the tests and studies was to develop a technology of making high-quality ductile iron castings, combined with effective means of environmental protection. The studies presented in this article related to castings weighing from 1 to 300 kg made from ductile iron of grades 400-15 and 500-7, using two-layer moulds, where the facing and core sand was the sand with an alkaline organic binder, while backing sand was the sand with an inorganic geopolymer binder. A simplified method of sand reclamation was applied with possible reuse of the reclaim as an addition to the backing sand. The cast iron spheroidising treatment and inoculation were selected taking into account the specific conditions of Hardtop Foundry. A pilot batch of castings was made, testing the gating and feeding systems and using exothermic sleeves on risers. The study confirmed the validity of the adopted concept of making ductile iron castings in layer moulds, while maintaining the content of sand with an organic binder at a level of maximum 15%.