Granulated blast furnace slag – A boon for foundry industry

Abstract

In the present investigation efforts have been put together to employ Granulated Blast furnace (GBF) slag as mould material for replacement of existing silica sand either full or partial in foundry industry. Nishiyama procedure was assumed for appraising the same. The process factors reflected on for this were the % of sodium silicate, % of Fe-Si powder and mould setting time. A sequence of tests on sand was conducted on sand, slag as per American foundry society standards. Two categories of moulds were built by means of sand and slag independently with optimum process parameters. A356 alloy and grey cast iron castings were executed on these recently built up slag moulds. The outcomes show that the mould’s compression, permeability as well as the shear strength of the GBF slag is an appropriate candidate for either incomplete or complete substitute of moulding sand. At some point in casting, the absence of fusing, dripping or mould wall collapse walls was noticed; this is exact for the ferrous as well as non-ferrous castings. Castings exhibiting high-quality surface finish, absence of surface defects as well as porosity were created by slag moulds.Keywords: Silica sand; Blast Furnace Slag; Mould properties; Ferrous and nonferrous castings.