Gauging Green Sand Flowability

Helps Predict Mold Quality

Due to the introduction of a new method of measurement, a sand’s
flowability can now be used as a direct indicator of mold quality.
Scott M. Strobl and Fred W. Schuster
Simpson Technologies Corp.
Aurora, Illinois
n current practice, the sand The Problem sified into three broad categories: hard-
control efforts of many green Sand flowability has been a topic of ness gradient, extrusion, and deforma-
sand foundries don’t go concern to foundrymen for decades. tion vs. compaction methods.
much beyond maintaining a target As many as 12 different methods have Most of the instruments previously
green compression strength. Yet to con- been put forth to measure it. None of devised for these methods used mold
sistently produce high-quality castings, these, however, has been universally hardness measurements to quantify
a molding sand must maintain certain adopted as a reliable indicator of flowability. The accuracy of this con-
values within a multitude of properties. flowability. These methods can be clas- cept is suspect, since mold hardness
Not only are these foundries denying numbers are affected not only by mold
themselves vital information by ignor- density, but also by bond strength.
ing other mechanical properties, the Other measurements of flowability con-
value of the green strength measure- centrated on the ability of a prepared
ment may itself be misleading. This is molding sand to extrude through an
because the final characteristics of the orifice or move perpendicular to the
finished mold are greatly influenced by direction of compaction forces. Since
sand density at the mold metal inter- this type of sand movement is rarely
face. Variations in density at this inter- encountered in everyday foundry op-
face can be attributed to a sand’s ability erations, these measurements are also
to flow freely and compact into a dense of questionable benefit.
mass around a pattern under the influ- The search for a measurement de-
ence of an externally applied force (jolt- vice that would be extremely sensi-
squeeze, for example). tive to changes in a molding sand’s
Controlling this ability of the sand to flowability led to the development of
flow freely around the pattern is ex- a method that expands and enhances
tremely important. The flow must over- the standard green sand compression
come friction between sand and the strength test. This new method uses
pattern walls of narrow pockets, be- sensitive computer technology to
tween patterns, or between patterns and measure the stress-strain characteris-
Fig. 1. This drawing depicts the typical
flask walls. Sand with poor flowability shear or “cone” type failure of a stan- tics of a standard 2x2 in. AFS cylindri-
tends to form void spaces at the mold- dard cylindrical molding sand specimen cal test specimen under a continuous
metal interface that are larger than the under a compressive load. compressive load.
individual sand grain size.
These voids can result in rough Experimenting
casting surfaces and metal pen- A literature review of rela-
etration. This sand’s poor pack- tive research makes it plain that
ing densities reduce the num- sand movement under com-
ber of contact points and clay pacting forces proceeds in hori-
binder bridges between the zontal layers and is greatly in-
grains, resulting in low mold fluenced by vertical shear be-
strength. Low packing densi- tween the sand grains. There
ties can also result in shrink- are also considerable frictional
age, sand erosion defects and losses between the pattern and
oversized castings. flask as sand moves downward
Therefore, thorough knowl- toward the pattern plate. There-
edge of a sand’s flow character- fore, it was determined that the
istics is important to the essential properties that influ-
metalcaster. A new method of ence flowability are:
determining a sand’s flowability 1. The shear resistance
via stress-strain curves has been Fig. 2. This chart shows the stress-strain curves of two molding (force required to start flow or
sands. The highest point on each is its maximum strength. The
developed to help foundries angle of the falling slope from that point indicates a sand’s movement);
quantify this important sand flowability. Here the sand represented by Curve A exhibits 2. The ease of movement
quality indicator. better flowability than that represented by Curve B. after the flow has started (resis-

48 modern casting / February 1997

Fig. 3. This instrument, comprised of a hydropneumatic press, Fig. 4. This chart shows the stress-strain curves of an 8.5%
microprocessor, keyboard, monitor, displacement transducer calcium bentonite sand mix at three different compactibilities.
and electronic load cell, provides the first accurate way to Sand A, at 31%, shows the best flowability.
quantify a sand’s flowability.

tance to the movement of the mass). sure and plot the stresses and corre- sive strength (a sharply falling slope) in-
The strength of prepared molding sponding strains after the point of maxi- dicates that the sand has good flowability
sand can be measured in tension, shear- mum green compression strength. From characteristics. Those with a low
ing or sliding, as well as in compressive these results, it is possible to assess the flowability value would exhibit a gradual
stresses. Due to the difficulty of obtain- sand’s resistance to flow between the falling slope on the stress-strain curve.
ing reliable and repeatable tensile planes of failure. This concept may also be useful in
strength data, most foundries have cho- When compressing a molding sand measuring sand brittleness. Brittle mold-
sen to measure compressive strength. sample, the compressive force rapidly ing sands lack plasticity and are suscep-
A brittle material such as molding increases up to a point called maximum tible to a variety molding problems, in-
sand is much weaker in tension and strength. After the point of maximum cluding broken edges and molds. Sands
shear than in compression. Generally, strength, the strength of the specimen that are extremely brittle should have
failures in molding sands under com- declines. This is illustrated on the stress- steep falling slopes similar to sands with
pressive loads are essentially shear fail- strain curve (Fig. 2). This portion of the good flow characteristics.
ures on planes. A shear or cone of fail- curve, referred to as the falling slope, is
ure is typical when applying a compres- indicative of both the cohesion of the bond- A New Instrument
sive load to a standard cylindrical mold- ing materials and the resistance of the mold- To determine the stresses and corre-
ing sand specimen (Fig. 1). The inclina- ing media to move under a compacting sponding strain after the point of maxi-
tion angle of the cone of failure is deter- load. This falling slope gives an excellent mum strength, a computerized strength
mined by the angle of internal friction, indication of a sand’s flowability. and deformation instrument was de-
which is typically 44–49 degrees for a The more fluid the sand is, with lower signed and constructed. The object of
standard three-ram specimen. cohesion and internal friction, the less the instrument is to provide a method
In the case of materials made of shearing energy is required to displace and system for testing molding sand
granular components, the resistance the moving plane. A very rapid deteriora- providing stress-strain test curves. The
to failure under shearing stresses is a tion of strength after maximum compres- primary components of the instrument
function not only of the ad- are a hydropneumatic
hesion, but also of the fric- press (including a movable
tional resistance to the slid- specimen supporter), mi-
ing of the rupture surfaces. croprocessor, keyboard,
The sheer stress that ac- monitor, displacement
companies strain may be transducer and electronic
thought of as arising from load cell (Fig. 3).
the effort of thin parallel To operate the instru-
slices of the specimen to ment, a standard AFS cylin-
slide over one another. drical sand specimen is
The typical “hourglass” loaded within the specimen
failure of a molding sand supporter located on the
under a compressive load moveable arm. When the
yields an excellent opportu- testing sequence is initiated,
nity to measure the initial the hydropneumatic press
force required to start flow applies a compressive load
and the force necessary to on the sand specimen. The
maintain flow. When apply- displacement transducer
ing a compressive load to a Fig. 5. This photo shows the qualitative effects of compactibility on 1- generates a strain-represen-
standard specimen an instru- ram Rowel specimens. From left to right, they have compactibilities of tative signal and the load
ment must accurately mea- 58, 46 and 31%. Note difference in quality at lesser compactibilities. cell generates a stress-repre-

modern casting / February 1997 49

Fig. 6. This chart illustrates the effect of compactibility on clay
type and flow factors. It clearly shows that the drier a sand is, Fig. 7. From this chart, we see that flowability enhancers greatly
the freer it flows, regardless of the type of bentonite in the mix. improve the sand’s flowability, while a cereal addition lowers it.
sentative signal of the sand sample being resulted in lower flow factors. Figure 4
tested. The signals are displayed in real shows examples of stress-strain curves
time on the monitor. The computer per- from sand batches prepared in all three
forms calculations according to opera- compactibility categories. The curves
tor-determined preset values to generate clearly show a change in downward
a falling slope number. A sand’s “flow inclination associated with the reduc-
factor” is calculated by dividing the tion in the water to clay ratio. Figure 5
falling slope by the compressive shows a qualitative example of this in-
strength. Lower absolute flow factors clination in the pictured test speci-
indicate a higher resistance sand that mens. Changing the compactibility of
opposes movement under compaction. sodium bentonite mixes from 58 to 31%
Using this instrument, data was gen- improved the flow factor by 345% (Fig.
erated from laboratory-controlled 6). This points out the importance of
batches of green sand prepared in a 50 automated compactibility controls to
lb vertical wheel batch muller, with each precise sand properties.
batch mulled for 10 min. Batch formu- Bentonite—Table 1 shows the data
las were chosen to represent molding from the tests on mixes with 8.5% of
sands expected to have high and low both bentonites. The type and percent-
flow characteristics. Water was added age of bentonite affects the flow factor
to maintain three predetermined at all compactibilities. Refering to Fig.
compactibilities: high—58%; medium— 6 again, we see that the effect of bento-
46% and low—31%. A total of 30 batches nite type on flowability is less at low
were prepared using three different compactabilities. In other words, when
silica sands. dry, a sand is more free flowing, regard-
Four green compression strength less of bentonite. Flow factors were
specimens were made from each batch, lower in sand mixtures containing 8.5%
and were tested on the instrument de- sodium bentonite, compared to sands
scribed above. Compression values prepared with the same percentage of
were averaged to represent each batch. calcium bentonite. In all sands tested,
reducing the bentonite percentage in-
Results creases the flow factor. Lowering so-
Compactibility—A substantial de- dium bentonite percentages from 8.5%
crease in flow factors was experienced to 6% increased the flow factor 93%.
with increasing compactibility percent- Flowability Enhancers and Ce-
ages. Regardless of the batch formula, real Additives—The addition of
an increase in the water to clay ratio flowability enhancers to 8.5% sodium
Table 1. Results of Tests on 8.5% Bentonite Sand Mixes
Compactibility Falling Slope Flow Factor Green Compression Strength
8.5% Calcium Bentonite
58 -505.60 psi 26.80 18.86 psi
46 -907.10 psi 40.40 22.56 psi
31 -1625.00 psi 72.86 22.30 psi
8.5% Sodium Bentonite
58 -401.00 psi 19.89 20.16 psi
46 -794.00 psi 33.50 23.70 psi
31 -1765.00 psi 68.67 25.70 psi
50
bentonite mixes resulted in increased
flow factors at each compactibility
level, compared to mixes without
them. These enhancers increased the
flow factors in the sodium bentonite
mixes to nearly equal to those of
the calcium bentonite at each
compactibility level. Conversely, flow
factors were lowered by adding 0.5%
cereal to both sodium bentonite and
calcium bentonite sand mixes. Fig-
ure 7 shows the effects of flowability
enhancers and cereals at the various
compactibility percentages.
Sand Distribution and Average
Size—Of major significance was the
sensitivity of the new instrument in mea-
suring the effects of changes in sand
grain size and distribution. Changing
the screen distribution from a 3- to a 4-
screen sand while maintaining a con-
stant AFS Grain Fineness Number (GFN)
increased the flow factors. The magni-
tude of this improvement was influ-
enced by compactibility. At 58%
compactibility, the increase in screen
sand distribution resulted in only a small
flow factor increase. Decreasing the
compactibility caused flow factors to
increase at a more rapid rate with the
change in screen sand distribution. In-
creasing AFS GFN boosted the flow fac-
tor compared to coarser sands of equal
compositions and compactibilities. An
increase in flow factors was also experi-
enced with an addition of 5% 330-mesh
silica flour.
The development of this new method
and instrument will help foundries more
closely control the quality of their molds
by adding the dimension of flowability
to their sand quality efforts. ▼
For a free copy of this article circle No. 342 on the
Reader Action Card.
This article was adapted from a paper
originally presented at the 1996 Fourth
Annual Asian Foundry Conference, Gold
Coast, Australia.
modern casting / February 1997