Determination of Parameters of the Moulding Sand Reclamation Process, on the Thermal Analysis Bases

Abstract

For the practical and functional reasons the investigation of the thermal decomposition process is of an essential meaning in relation to the thermal stabilisation of materials and obtaining for them the desired thermal properties. On the other side, thermal tests are carried out in order to identify degradation mechanisms, which is important in the environment protection context, including materials reuse. The cycle of investigations in which thermal TG-DTA methods were applied as supplementary ones for the works on the optimisation of the thermal reclamation process is presented in the hereby paper. The thermal reclamation process as a utilisation method of spent moulding and core sands is more costly than other reclamation methods, but in the majority of cases it simultaneously provides the best cleaning of mineral matrices from organic binders. Thus, the application of the thermal analysis methods (TG-DTA), by determining the temperature range within which a degradation followed by a destruction of bounded organic binders in moulding sands, can contribute to the optimisation of the thermal reclamation process and to the limiting its realisation costs.

Keywords

• phase transformations
• critical temperatures
• retained austenite
• TRIP steels