The Compositions: Biodegradable Material – Synthetic Resins as Moulding Sands Binders

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 self-hardening 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