The paper describes the current state of knowledge in a field where change has been driven in foundry molding sand practice due to the increasing requirements regarding environmental protection. These trends must take into account not only the technological quality and economics of their production process, but also the increasingly stringent requirements related to environmental protection. As part of this study, tests were performed in relation to reducing the toxicity of current molding sands with organic binders, so as to develop new organic binders for foundry practice. Molding sands with binders having various contents of furfuryl alcohol were tested. It was shown that reducing the total furfuryl alcohol content in the binder results in lower strength properties of the molding sands in practice. It was also suggested to replace the use of a furfuryl binder with one based on alkyd resin. The final stage of the study was to demonstrate the desirability of using biomaterials as a component of organic binders for foundry molding sands. Compositions: typical synthetic resins and biodegradable materials were designed as binders to improve the quality of the organic binders used with molding sands. Keywords foundry engineering, green industry, molding and core sands, organic binder, biomaterial This article is an invited submission to JMEP selected from presentations at the 73rd World Foundry Congress and has been expanded from the original presentation. 73WFC was held in Krakow, Poland, September 23-27, 2018, and was organized by the World Foundry Organization and Polish FoundrymenÕs Association.

Modern techniques of castings production, including moulding sands production, require a strict technological regime and high quality materials. In the case of self-hardening moulding sands with synthetic binders those requirements apply mainly to sand, which adds to more than 98% of the whole moulding sand mixture. The factors that affect the quality of the moulding sands are both chemical (SiO2, Fe2O3 and carbonates content) and physical. Among these factors somewhat less attention is paid to the granulometric composition of the sands. As a part of this study, the effect of sand quality on bending strength Rgu and thermal deformation of self-hardening moulding sands with furfural and alkyd resin was assessed. Moulding sands with furfural resin are known [1] to be the most susceptible to the sand quality. A negative effect on its properties has, among others, high content of clay binder and so-called subgrains (fraction smaller than 0,1mm), which can lead to neutralization of acidic hardeners (in the case of moulding sands with furfuryl resin) and also increase the specific surface, what forces greater amount of binding agents. The research used 5 different quartz sands originating from different sources and characterized with different grain composition and different clay binder content.

The article shows the influence of environment requirements on changes in different foundry moulding sands technologies such as cold box, self-hardening moulding sands and green sands. The aim of the article is to show the possibility of using the biodegradable materials as binders (or parts of binders’ compositions) for foundry moulding and core sands. The authors concentrated on the possibility of preparing new binders consisting of typical synthetic resins - commonly used in foundry practice - and biodegradable materials. According to own research it is presumed that using biodegradable materials as a part of new binders’ compositions may cause not only lower toxicity and better ability to reclaim, but may also accelerate the biodegradation rate of used binders. What’s more, using some kinds of biodegradable materials may improve flexibility of moulding sands with polymeric binder. The conducted research was introductory and took into account bending strength and thermal properties of furan moulding sands with biodegradable material (PCL). The research proved that new biodegradable additive did not decrease the tested properties.

The article takes into consideration the researches concerning inserting the Glassex additive to the microwaved-hardened and selfhardened moulding sands with water glass. In the research different types of ester hardeners to self-hardened moulding sands with water glass were used. The influence of Glassex additive on retained strength of moulding sands with different hardeners and prepared by different technologies of hardening were tested. The influence of different hardeners and the technology of hardening on retained strength of moulding sand with water glass and the Glassex additive were also estimated.

The article discusses the issue of the influence of furfuryl alcohol content in resin binders on properties of moulding sand at elevated temperature. Reducing the share of this component -due to the requirements of the European Union regarding its toxicity -may cause a decrease in temperature of moulding sands' destruction and, consequently, the thermal deformation of moulds and the creation of many casting defects. The study examined the impact of the furfuryl alcohol content of the thermal destruction processes and on the strength of the moulding sand at an ambient temperature and the tendency to thermal deformation.Keywords: moulding sand, thermal destruction, bending strength, hot-distortion W artykule omówiono zagadnienie wpływu zawartości alkoholu furfurylowego w spoiwach żywicznych na właściwości mas formierskich w podwyższonej temperaturze. Zmniejszenie udziału tego składnika -spowodowane wymaganiami Unii Europejskiej odnośnie jego toksyczności -może powodować obniżenie temperatur destrukcji masy, a w konsekwencji deformację cieplną form i powstanie wielu wad odlewniczych. W pracy przebadano wpływ zawartości alkoholu furfurylowego na procesy cieplnej destrukcji spoiwa a także na wytrzymałość masy w temperaturze otoczenia oraz skłonność do deformacji cieplnej.