INVESTIGATION ON PROPERTIES OF LOCAL ZIRCON SAND FOR SOUND

The production of castings is essential to the industrial development of a Country. The manufacture of every machine and each piece of equipment used in transportation, farming, construction and mining, petroleum and in water-supply and sanitation facilities is dependent on castings. Equipment and Machineries components may be broken or wear out and may be replaced. Effective local sources for these replacement parts are essential to avoid long delays in obtaining them from the original manufacturer or from more industrialized neighbouring Countries. Quality Zircon sand is a vital ingredient for foundry production of high content Manganese steel castings. The need for this investigation arose out of the desire to establish the availability and locations of local quality zircon sand for foundry practice. The Azara-Lafia zircon sand deposit is a good source for quality foundry sand. The service properties (chemical and physical) of the sand were determined. These include permeability, green strength and sintering point. Sample casting was conducted using high manganese alloy containing (13.2 % Mn). The investigation revealed the suitability of the sand for the production of quality castings