Growing emission requirements are forcing the foundry industry to seek new, more environmentally friendly solutions. One of the

solutions may be the technologies of preparing moulding and core sands using organic biodegradable materials

as binders. However, not only environmental requirements grow but also those related to the technological properties

of moulding sand. Advancing automation and mechanization of the foundry industry brings new challenges related to the moulding sands.

Low elasticity may cause defects during assembly of cores or moulds by the manipulators.

The paper presents the study of flexibility in the room temperature according to new method and resistance to thermal deformation of selfhardening

moulding sands with furfuryl resin, containing biodegradable material PCL. The task of the new additive is to reduce the

moulding sands harmfulness to the environment and increase its flexibility in the room temperature. The impact of the additive and the

effect of the amount of binder on the properties of mentioned moulding sands were analysed. Studies have shown that the use of 5% of

PCL does not change the nature of the thermal deformation curve, improves the bending strength of tested moulding mixtures and

increases their flexibility at room temperature.

The article shows the influence of environment requirements on changes in different foundry moulding sands technologies such as cold

box, self-hardening moulding sands and green sands. The aim of the article is to show the possibility of using the biodegradable materials

as binders (or parts of binders’ compositions) for foundry moulding and core sands. The authors concentrated on the possibility of

preparing new binders consisting of typical synthetic resins - commonly used in foundry practice - and biodegradable materials. According

to own research it is presumed that using biodegradable materials as a part of new binders’ compositions may cause not only lower toxicity

and better ability to reclaim, but may also accelerate the biodegradation rate of used binders. What’s more, using some kinds of

biodegradable materials may improve flexibility of moulding sands with polymeric binder. The conducted research was introductory and

took into account bending strength and thermal properties of furan moulding sands with biodegradable material (PCL). The research

proved that new biodegradable additive did not decrease the tested properties.

The paper presents possibility of using biodegradable materials as parts of moulding sands’ binders based on commonly used in foundry

practice resins. The authors focus on thermal destruction of binding materials and thermal deformation of moulding sands with tested

materials. All the research is conducted for the biodegradable material and two typical resins separately. The point of the article is to show

if tested materials are compatible from thermal destruction and thermal deformation points of view. It was proved that tested materials

characterized with similar thermal destruction but thermal deformation of moulding sands with those binders was different.

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.