Casting Emission Reduction Program

Prepared by: TECHNIKON LLC 5301 Price Avenue McClellan, CA, 95652 (916) 929-8001 www.technikonllc.com

US Army Task N256

No-Bake Iron Capability Study-2

Technikon # 1256-232 CW
This document was revised for unlimited public distribution and published on 15 April 2003

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Capability Study to Determine the Requirements Of Phenolic Urethane / Iron No-Bake Molds for Emission Testing

CERP Test CW WBS #2.3GSA.2

29 March 2001

George Crandell Operations

The data contained in this report were developed to assess the relative emissions profile of the product or process being evaluated. You may not obtain the same results in your facility. Data was not collected to assess casting quality, cost, or producibility.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 A. Summary.................................................................................................................................... 3 B. Background ................................................................................................................................ 3 C. Objective .................................................................................................................................... 4 E. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 4 F. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 5

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INTRODUCTION
The Casting Emission Reduction Program (CERP) conducted a Capability Study at its PreProduction foundry involving Phenolic Urethane No-Bake molds. No-Bakes represent a class of materials and manufacturing methods that were previously untested at CERP. No-Bake is a molding process that can be used for aluminum and gray iron casting. This Study uses strictly iron casting. To avoid redundancy, the Phenolic Urethane No-Bake molds will be referred to as No-Bake throughout this Report. The purpose of the capability study was to determine the manufacturing requirements and the range of process and air emission measurement variation involved with No-Bake molds. The capability study was accomplished through two separate Test Series, known as CERP Tests CW (2.3.GSA.2) and CP (2.3.GSA.1). The conclusions formed from the CW Test Series were used as the basis for the CP test study to examine emissions measurement variations. As a result of the two Test Series, the methods and criteria essential for all phenolic urethane No-Bake baseline testing have been developed. The Appendix to this report contains the detailed process and operational information that supports the text of this report. It is not included in this document but can be obtained electronically or in hard copy by contacting the Technikon offices at (916) 929-8001 or by logging on to http://www.technikonllc.com and requesting an electronic version.

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A. Summary
This report contains the results of the study that determined the process requirements necessary to manufacture No-Bake molds for emission testing from the chemical family Phenolic Urethane. The CW Test Series was conducted in order to establish the limits of process variation associated with making and pouring No-Bake molds. This was accomplished by studying the production equipment and process control test methods. The results of the CW Test Series include defining the mold geometry and the general requirements typical of No-Bake molds, pertaining to: manufacturing and transporting molds to the pouring/emission testing hood; the pouring of the molds; effectively disintegrating the molds in a timely manner; and separating the hot metal castings from the binder bonded core sand to evaluate the emissions.

B. Background
The research conducted at CERP has measured the emissions from several other core and greensand mold materials. Emission testing of foundry sand molds bound with a family of chemical binders known as No-Bakes is a logical extension of the current and historical research activities conducted at CERP. The equipment available for this type of research includes two emission testing foundries, one for discreet single mold detailed material testing, and one for dynamic material testing under production conditions. No-Bakes represent a family of core/mold manufacturing materials in general use in the foundry industry. Historically, cores were manufactured from animal protein and oxidizable vegetable oils requiring drying or baking. While still in use, these materials tend to be inconsistent and are either slow or energy and labor intensive. By contrast, No-Bakes lend themselves to mechanization and cure without baking by delayed chemical interaction of their components. Use of this class of material requires definition of a strip time. This is when the material strength has sufficiently developed to permit removal of the core/mold from the core box. Additionally, it is important to not exceed the bench life when placing the material in the core box. If exceeded, the chemical curing will have processed to such an extent that the coated sand grains will not bind together to form the desired shape. The strength of a core/mold depends on several factors such as temperature, resin content, ratio of resins or catalysts used to control the speed of the chemical reactions, and the mechanics of packing the coated sand together. To evaluate the sand and the resin coating systems, trial batches are made and tested using cured coated sand tensile test bars called dogbones. The dogbones are tested at various standard times after they are made. It is important to control the strength of the sand. Sand strength has a direct effect on the ability to handle the core/molds, and on the reliability of decomposition at the desired interval during shakeout. Controlling these factors assures a standard emission profile.

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C. Objective
The objective of the CW Test Series was to establish the limits of process variation associated with making and pouring Phenolic Urethane No-Bake molds. D. Experimental Procedure Listed below is the procedure used in the CW Test Series. Refer to the Appendix for more comprehensive procedural information. 1. Measurement of the resin and sand delivery system flow rates of the Kloster core sand mixer. This was used to determine flow rates and their consistency over a range of resin pump speeds. 2. Comparison of five methods for manufacturing the dogbones. determine the optimum consistency and strength. This was used to

3. Determination of the capability of the dogbone strength measurement machine and the Dietert 405 Universal strength machine. 4. Evaluation of mixes of various ratios of resins and catalyst to select the optimum mixture. 5. Production of molds with various thicknesses and pouring with iron. The purpose of this was to determine the best combination of geometry and chemical content to get workable strip times, bench life, mechanical handling characteristics, and timely breakdown during shakeout. 6. Comparison to basic Total Hydrocarbon (THC) emission measurements to determine the emission gathering requirements used in the CP Test Series.

E. Results
A series of 21 molds were poured to determine the resin content, physical size and configuration, and hardware necessary to satisfy mechanical and emission test requirements to have a stable test cell. The final production methods and molding properties that will be used for emission testing are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Cope height: 5 inches. Drag height: 5.5 inches. Resin content: 1.1 % based on sand for a phenolic urethane family binder system. In- gates dimensions: 1.50 inches wide by 0.12 inches high so castings separate during shakeout and the cope mold can pass to the catch pan. 5. Vertical sprue: 3-inch diameter, round pouring cup to reduce splash. 6. Support frame height: Top of mold at 28 inches above where frame rests on the shakeout. This provides two-sided support to the mold.
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TECHNIKON # 1256-232 CW 29 MARCH 2001 7. Weighted frame setting: On the perimeter of the mold to minimize run outs. 8. Half- inch re-bar J hooks: Insert through 0.75- inch riser vents into the risers to hang castings separately from the sand during and after shakeout. 9. Pour time: 20-30 seconds. 10. Cooling time: 45 minutes. 11. Active shakeout time: 15 minutes. 12. Total emission-sampling time: 75 minutes. A final CP Test Series consisting of 15 molds incorporating all the final elements of the No-Bake capability series CW was conducted to determine the stability of the test cell for emission collection. The CP Test Series was executed as planned from a process viewpoint. The test cell is considered stable and suitable for evaluating No-Bake materials.

F. Conclusions
1. The Kloster mixer is capable of dispensing the sand and the three chemical components to better than +/- 3 % of the mean value to a rate of 240 lbs. of mixed sand per minute. The No-Bake manufacturing method used at CERP uses a Kloster paddle mixer to introduce and mix measured amounts of resin, co-reactant, and catalyst with raw sand. The mixed sand cascades into coreboxes used to form the two halves of the four-cavity gear mold or the dogbone shaped tensile test bar. Each dispensing function of the Kloster mixer was replicated five times. The capability of the machine was determined by calculating the standard deviation of the dispensed weights. 2. The simpler vibration method was chosen as the standard dogbone manufacturing method. This was determined by evaluating the manufacture of the sand tensile test bar or dogbone with five manufacturing methods using sand supplied by the qualified Kloster sand mixer. The methods included finger tucking the sand into the dogbone cavities; placing and striking off the sand without compaction of any type; placing, striking off, and compressing the sand using a platen; placing, striking off, and vibrating the core box; and lastly placing, striking off, and a combination of vibration and compressing the sand with the platen. 3. A penetrating type hardness tester calibrated in strength units of psi was chosen as a measure of the progress of the chemical reactions and resultant mechanical strength development . It was recommended by the material supplier that a value of 11 psi be the point that coated sand should be discarded (bench life). The minimum time before the formed mold is removed from the core box is indicated by a strength of 50 psi (strip time). 4. The capability of the Dietert 405 Universal Strength Machine to measure dogbone tensile strength is better than +/- 57 psi for any of the five tests. It is better than +/- 27 psi for the two-hour test bars and better than +/- 15 psi for the 24 hour90 % Rh test bars. The two hour test bar was selected as the principle No-Bake process consistency measurement. The dogbones were tested on an standard industrial Dietert 405 Universal Strength Machine at 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, and 24 hours after manufacture. Additionally, cores were tested after 24 hours in a 90% relative humidity chamber that degrades the cores strength. The capability of this machine was determined using 12 sets of dogbones manufactured to the standard vibration
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TECHNIKON # 1256-232 CW 29 MARCH 2001 method using coated sand prepared in the qualified Kloster mixer to the above stated times and conditions. 5. The sample size for the No-Bake dogbone testing was established at six samples. The capability of the Dietert 405 Universal Strength Machine is dependent on the number of test bars processed. However, there is a point beyond which additional test bars no longer improve the machines capability. This number was determined from the values obtained for the 30-minute samples. The same 12 values were grouped in quantities from 2 to 12 and then permutated to include all combinations of the 12 values for each group size. The average standard deviation was determined for each permutated group. The average standard deviation did not significantly improve after six samples.

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