Effect of Sand Wetting on Physically Hardened Moulding Sands Containing a Selected Inorganic Binder. Part 1

In the paper, an attempt was made to evaluate the effect of preliminary wetting of high-silica base during preparation of moulding sands containing a selected grade of sodium water-glass, designed for hardening by traditional drying or by electromagnetic microwaves at 2.45 GHz. In the research, some water was dosed during stirring the sandmix before adding 1.5 wt% of the binder that was unmodified sodium water-glass grade 137, characterised by high molar module within 3.2 to 3.4. Scope of the examinations included determining the effect of wetting the base on mechanical parameters like compression, bending and tensile strength, as well as on technological parameters like permeability, abrasion resistance and apparent density. The research revealed a significant positive effect of adding water to wet surfaces of high-silica base grains on mechanical properties and quality of moulding sands hardened by physical methods, in particular by microwave heating