Effect of gel time of 3D sand printing binder system on quality of sand mold/core

Abstract

Two important factors affecting the performance of sand mold/core generated by 3D printing (3DP) are strength and dimensional accuracy, which are not only closely related to the reactivity of furan resin and the phase transition of silica sand, but also the curing agent system of furan resin. This paper studies the influence of gel time on the strength and dimensional accuracy of a 3DP sand mold/core, taking the furan resin system as an example and using a sand specimen generated by a 3DP inkjet molding machine. The experiment demonstrates that the gel time of 3 to 6 min for the sand mixture suits 3DP core-making most under the experimental condition. However, it should be noted that under the same resin condition, the strength of a no-bake sand mold/core is higher than that of a 3DP sand mold/core. The dimensional accuracy of the sand mold/core does not change significantly when the gel time is less than 15 min. Improving the activity of binder and developing ultra-strong acid with low corrosion shall be an effective way to improve the quality of the mold/core by 3D printing.