Improving the properties of sand molds in the iron casting industry using mixture experiments

Abstract

In the iron casting industry, molding sands are recycled multiple times. Eventually, recycled sand degrades the properties of the sand mold that can cause product defects. Hence this research aims to improve the properties of sand molds by determining the optimal mixture components of recycled sand and other additive materials. This study uses mixture experiments for data collection and sand mold mixture component analysis. The components of a mixture for making a sand mold consist of the rst time recycled sand, bentonite, and water. The mechanical property test of the sand mold includes green compressive strength and permeability. Response surface methodology is employed to determine the optimal proportions of mixture components. In addition, propagation of error with the use of the desirability function approach has been employed for the purpose of optimizing sand mold mixtures. The studies have found that the optimal proportions of mixture components of the sand mold are slightly different according to the analyses performed by response surface approach and propagation of error with the use of desirability function approach.