Development of a new instrument for measurement of high temperature mechanical properties of resin-bonded sand

The mechanical properties of resin-bonded sand mixtures at high temperatures significantly affect the quality of casting. However, the existing instruments for high-temperature performances testing mainly focus on inorganic binder-bonded sands no matter the test items or the atmospheric protection, while the instrumentss specially designed for resin-bonded sand are not yet available. A new instrument for testing the hightemperature performance of resin sand was designed including the confirmation of the testing parameters, loading, measurement and control systems, and the design of the frame shape and heating furnace. This instrument can test the compressive strength, heat tolerance time and restraining load of phenol-formaldehyde resin coated sand, self-hardened furan resin sand, and trimethylamine(TEA)-based resin bonded sand at high temperatures. The developed instrument has a high accuracy offering smaller than 0.3% deviation at a full scale in the measurement of the high temperature compressive strength and the restraining load over the range of 0-6.8 MPa and 0-2,000 N, respectively. The high temperature heat tolerance time range is 0-300 s and its measurement accuracy is ±1 s.

Gas evolution characteristics of three kinds of no-bake resin-bonded sands for foundry in production

No-bake resin-bonded sand is commonly used in casting production.However,its air pollution is relatively serious,especially in the molding and pouring process.For this reason,it is necessary to study the gas evolution characteristics of no-bake resin-bonded sand from room temperature to high temperatures,and not only the amount of gaseous products,but also the composition of the gaseous products.No-bake furan resin-bonded sand(#1),phenolic urethane no-bake resin-bonded sand(#2),and alkaline phenolic no-bake resin-bonded sand(#3)are the three most common no-bake resin-bonded sands in casting.The gas evolution volume and rate of these three no-bake resin-bonded sands were studied.Thermogravimetry-mass spectrometer(TG-MS),headspace-gas chromatography/mass spectrometer(HS-GC/MS),and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometer(PY-GC/MS)were used to measure the composition of the gaseous products emitted from binders at room temperature and high temperatures.The differences between formaldehyde,heterocyclic aromatic compounds(HAC),monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(MAH),and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs)gaseous products from the three types of no-bake resin-bonded sands during the molding and casting process were compared.From the perspective of environmental protection,alkaline phenolic no-bake resin-bonded sand and no-bake furan resin-bonded sand are better than phenolic urethane no-bake resin-bonded sand.