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Gas permeability of moulds and cores is an important factor to consider in the casting process. In foundries, gas permeability is measured by using instruments which give dimensionless numbers. Thi...

In this study, thermophysical properties of a commonly used silica sand were investigated and their relation to its granulometric and chemical composition was studied. Thermal expansion and differe...

Furan sand is one of the most commonly used chemically bonded molding materials in foundries across the world. It consists of a furfuryl alcohol-based resin and an acid-based liquid catalyst. When the molding material comes in contact with the molten metal, it undergoes a thermal shock accompanied by a certain release of volatile gases. In order to evacuate these gases, molds and cores should have optimal gas permeability values and proper venting by design. If the volatile compounds are not appropriately evacuated, they are prone to enter the melt before the first layer of solidified metal is formed which can lead to the formation of gas-related casting defects. Standard gas permeability measurements are commercially available tools used in the industry to compare and to quality control different sands, however, they only provide reference numbers without actual units. Permeability in a standard unit, m2, provides uniformity and helps the comparison of results from difference sources. In this paper, a new method using Darcy’s law (prevalent in earth sciences), was adapted to measure the gas-permeability of furan samples made of silica sand with various grain size distributions. The effect of grain size distribution on the gas-permeability of furan sand samples was studied. Gas-permeability values in m2 were then correlated with mercury-porosity measurement results to bring new light on the relation between pore size, pore volume and the permeability of molding materials.

During our research we utilized data provided by GPS collars to compare the spatial patterns of wild boars living in lowland and high-hilly regions. Five wild boars were fitted with GPS Plus (Vectronic) type collars. The two aforementioned investigated habitat areas were as follows: a high-hilly hunting ground from the foot of the Bodoc Mountains (Covasna County), and the meeting point of Olt and Danube rivers in the southern part of the country (Teleorman County). The average daily wild boar activity varied between 2.9 and 3.1 km in the lowlands and between 3.6 and 4.9 km in the higher situated habitats. The average daily movement area calculated with the minimum convex polygon method was between 60.3 and 112.5 ha/day in the lowlands and between 113.5 and 125.2 ha/day in the high-hilly regions. The movement area of the wild boars calculated with the MCP method varied between 1,060 and 1,2001 hectares in lowlands and between 8,689 and 9,463 hectares in higher altitudes. Our data proved inadequate at testing whether or not large carnivores affect wild boar activity patterns. Habitat use analysis produced interesting results: even in a very diverse habitat, every collared individual preferred green forests. We found negative preference for agricultural fields in both habitats.

Greensand is a widely-used material to produce sand moulds in high production, mainly for iron casting applications. Several authors have studied the high temperature behavior of greensand regarding to the vapour condensation and transfer zones, and the effect of different production parameters on the thermal conductivity. This work focuses on the effect of the mixture composition on the heat absorption (cooling) capacity of the greensand. During the experimental work, various greensand mixtures with changing bentonite + water and coal dust contents were prepared and tested by a novel application of Fourier thermal analysis. The method provides new thermophysical knowledge about moulding sand, through applying real casting conditions by the immersion of spherical sand samples into liquid iron. The findings of the work direclty contribute to the area of thermal sciences and also brings novel understandings to foundry technology in general.

The application of 3D printing techniques is a recently developing area used within foundry technology. Digital production of sand molds and cores eliminates the need for hard tooling, drastically reduces lead times and offers design freedoms not possible in the traditional pattern making. Even though mold and core making technologies are refined from both scientific and practical points of view, casting defects may still occur in the final products. Thus, molding material related casting research is required to generate state-of-the-art methods and understandings to avoid the formation of casting defects. In this paper, a pioneering method is presented which is suitable to determine novel thermophysical and heat transfer properties of various types of molding materials. These properties are strongly connected to the cooling capacity and the gas evolution features of the cores used in casting production. The method is based on temperature measurements inside spherical shaped core sand specimens and evaluated by a special application of Fourier thermal analysis. Temperature measurements were performed in test samples produced by two different 3D core printing systems. The registered temperature data were processed by Fourier thermal analysis to calculate the thermal properties and the decomposition characteristics of the 3D printed cores. The experiments were executed under different heating conditions analogous to aluminium and cast iron production.

Silica sand is the most commonly used mineral for molding and core making applications in foundry technology due to its availability, thermal and chemical attributes. However, there are many additional requirements foundry sands need to meet regarding their sizing, chemical purity, physical durability and thermal properties. This research studies the thermophysical properties of a foundry silica sand comprehensively. After separating one sand batch into numerous grain size ranges, the chemical composition and thermophysical properties of the fractions were investigated, respectively. By means of this approach, the chemical properties and thermal behavior can be directly linked. The silicon dioxide content shows a strong correlation with the thermal expansion properties of the various fractions. The results give a better understanding of the high temperature behavior of foundry silica sands and clarify the role of factors affecting their thermophysical properties.

In the period of August 2013 to September 2015, we collected and measured the body weight of 246 red fox (Vulpes vulpes) carcasses collected during hunts. A portion of these red foxes (n = 153) was originally from habitats they shared with the golden jackal (Canis aureus), while the other portion (n = 93) had almost no contact with this species. We analyzed the body weight of red foxes from both areas according to age (adult-cub) as well as gender. We have found that the younger animals that live sympatrically with the golden jackal weigh less than those from the golden jackal-free territory regardless of gender. In the case of adult red foxes, the habitat-related differences between body weight were found to be insignificant. These results suggest that the high level of nutritional niche overlap between sympatric red fox and golden jackal could affect the body weight of juvenile red foxes.

The most important advantage of foundry purpose moulding sand is that it can be reclaimed and reused through the casting manufacturing process. Supplying the foundry with a new source of material, sand reclamation brings along both environmental and economic advantages. Utilization of used sand can be considered as a common technological routine in the production of most types of chemically bound moulding materials. The epoxy-SO2 process is prevalent in the processing of cast iron engine components worldwide. Based on its excellent properties, it is mainly suitable for producing internal sand cores with complex geometry. Even though reclaimed sand addition is an active and well-functioning feature in ferrous foundries, the scientific and thermophysical background of its effects on the casting process is yet to be explored. In this work, the thermal aspects of different reclaimed sand levels in the epoxy-SO2 moulding system were examined. Thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis of the epoxy-SO2 and reclaimed sand in focus were carried out to obtain basic understandings about their high-temperature behaviour. A state-of-the-art Fourier thermal analysis method presented in a recent paper was used at temperatures corresponding to actual cast iron production (1300 ± 10 °C), contrary to the previous tests at the typical temperature range of aluminium melt processing (660 ± 10 °C). By the right of the method, the effects of reclaimed sand addition on the heat absorption (cooling) capacity of the epoxy-SO2 moulding mixtures were investigated.

The phenolic urethane cold-box (PUCB) process was first introduced to the foundry industry in the late 1960s. Since then, it has become one of the most popular methods to make foundry purpose sand moulds and cores, utilized in the manufacturing of aluminium and cast iron cast components. The factors to be considered, affecting the general performance of a PUCB moulding mixture, are the temperature of sand, the moisture content, the mixing conditions, etc. Moreover, there are variable production parameters such as binder level, to improve certain properties of the mould and/or the core based on their specific area of application. These are mainly mechanical properties such as tensile or splitting strength. They have significant influences on the behaviour of the moulding material and are usually tested at room temperature. Although the production phases of the PUCB system are refined to a high extent today, the effect of binder content on the quality of the mould/core and the final casting should be supported by new approaches also in thermal sciences, interpreted in high-temperature environment. In this work, different PUCB mixtures were produced to evaluate the effect of various binder levels on the thermophysical properties of sand cores. Thermogravimetry, differential thermal analysis and a novel application of Fourier thermal analysis were used to study the decomposition processes of the PUCB mixture and to reveal the impact of binder level on the heat absorption (cooling) capacity of sand cores at temperatures relevant in the manufacturing of cast iron parts (1300 ± 10 °C).

Depending on the preparation and the applied materials, moulds and cores can be of high rigidity or can be flexible. Although, chemically bonded moulding materials have relatively good flexibility, their high temperature behaviour determines the dimensional accuracy, the stresses in the castings and can induce several casting defects, such as rattail, veining, etc. The phenomenon is based on two major effects: the thermal expansion of the unbonded foundry sands and the deformation of the sand mixtures. The main objective of the present work was to study the relationship between these two effects, and to improve the knowledge related to the thermo-mechanical interactions between the casting and the mould. Dilatometric analysis of unbonded sand samples were performed and compared to the results of hot distortion tests of moulding mixture specimens. The results showed, that the thermal expansion of foundry sand largely influences the hot distortion behaviour, but depending on the type of binder used.

The process of casting in sand moulds is used for a large volume of castings manufactured in the world. Internal channels and complex geometries of these products are formed by the placement of cores within the mould cavity. Resin-bound sand mixtures are essential ingredients in engine component manufacturing. In this study, a state-of-the-art application of Fourier thermal analysis in foundry technologies is presented. Investigation of decomposition phenomena of resin-bound moulding materials during casting production is a brand new area to use the potential of thermal sciences. Temperature measurements in test samples of standard types of moulding mixtures were performed. The registered cooling curves were processed by a numerical iteration algorithm to determine the amount of heat absorbed during degradation of the moulding material. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) of sand mixtures were carried out to compare the results of the Fourier thermal analysis with TG and DTA curves.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain a finite difference method (FDM) solution using control volume for heat transport by conduction and the heat absorption by the enthalpy model in the sand mixture used in casting manufacturing processes. A mixture of sand and different chemicals (binders) is used as moulding materials in the casting processes. The presence of various compounds in the system improve the complexity of the heat transport due to the heat absorption as the binders are decomposing and transformed into gaseous products due to significant heat shock. Design/methodology/approach – The geometrical domain were defined in a 1D polar coordinate system and adapted for numerical simulation according to the control volume-based FDM. The simulation results were validated by comparison to the temperature measurements under laboratory conditions as the sand mould mixture was heated by interacting with a liquid alloy. Findings – Results of validation and simulation methods were about high correspondence, the numerical method presented in this paper is accurate and has significant potential in the simulation of casting processes. Originality/value – Both numerical solution (definition of geometrical domain in 1D polar coordinate system) and verification method presented in this paper are state-of-the-art in their kinds and present high scientific value especially regarding to the topic of numerical modelling of heat flow and foundry technology.

A wide variety of molding mixtures are extensively used in the process of the sand casting of metal components today. The sector is continuously developing in production volume; moreover, the expectations of customers are increasing on a monthly basis (also from a quality point of view). Even though mold and core manufacturing are well-organized routines in most foundries, technological problems still appear that can lead to technological problems and casting defects. These trends are forcing metal casters to come up with fitting strategies to solve their daily production challenges, while their suppliers are expected to keep up the continuous development of their existing foundry products and to find innovative solutions as well as new material combinations. Research on molding materials and their properties must, therefore, take a step forward accordingly to generate the necessary new knowledge to understand the behavior of mold and core mixtures during casting. This paper summarizes the latest results of a novel measurement method suitable for studying the degradation characteristics of different molding materials from a new perspective. The fundamentals of the method are based on a thermal analysis, focusing on the heat-absorption behavior of greensand and two types of chemically bonded sands regardless of the binder type and amount or the manufacturing process.

In order to standardize the reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) determination of natural polyamines, particularly of agmatine, which is important in plant physiology, a simple dansylation and thin-layer chromatography (TLC) procedure was developed for the separation and purification of dansyl-agmatine. The monodansyl structure of the agmatine derivative was verified by mass spectrometry. Dansyl-agmatine was used as a reliable reference compound for the validation of an improved RP-HPLC method and to the quantitation of plant polyamines. In two varieties of wheat that had been stressed by cold treatment, significant changes were demonstrated in the agmatine content of plant seedlings.

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