Sodium Silicate Sand Process- Case Study
A domestic steel casting plant mainly produces large steel castings of more than 10 tons, the production process is sodium silicate sand process, and the products are mainly used for mining equipment and cement equipment, etc. The annual output of steel castings is 30,000 tons.
The castings produced by the factory are all large steel castings, and the main casting materials are
Carbon steel castings (35 steel, 45 steel), single piece weight 40-50 T, wall thickness is 800 mm, the pouring temperature is high, the pouring time is long, and the sand burning is easy to find on the casting surface. Therefore, chromite sand is applied as surface sand to improve the surface quality of castings.
As the price of chromite sand increases year by year, in order to reduce production costs, the customer is interested in seeking using Fused Ceramic Sand instead of chromite in sodium silicate sand process as surface sand and core sand.
Application of Fused Ceramic Sand in Sodium Silicate Sand Process
Finally customer selected 30 mesh fused ceramic sand and chromite sand mixed at the ratio of 3:7 to replace the original chromite sand for the test.
The specific test method is as follows: in the process of carbon dioxide hardening sodium silicate sand, when using Fused Ceramic sand, add 4.5% sodium silicate and mix the sand, the mixed sodium silicate ceramic sand is used as the surface sand and filled in the parts where the sand is easy to stick, and the rest parts are filled with sodium silica sand, which is applied after hardening. After pouring, the casting is easy to clean and has high surface finish, which can play a role in preventing sand sticking.
The following pictures are the site photos of local (surface sand, included angle) production of large steel castings with fused Ceramic sand. In the local part filled with fused Ceramic sand, because it is easy to produce sintering, sand sticking.
In a word, the use of fused ceramic sand in the sand prone parts of large steel castings, such as the surface sand and hot spot concentration, can effectively eliminate the local sand sticking or iron clad sand. For example, it can reduce the cleaning cost of castings and improve the surface quality of castings.
Fused Ceramic Sand Application Conclusion
The use of fused ceramic sand instead of chromite sand not only improves the surface quality of castings, but also reduces the production cost of castings, and achieves the quality and economy of castings double harvest of benefits.