A Study on the Suitability of Mahanadi Riverbed Sand as an Alternative to Silica Sand for Indian Foundry Industries

Abstract

The availability of silica sand is diminishing and as a result, the price of silica sand increasing. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the suitability of local riverbed sand for nonferrous alloy casting in Indian foundries. The present investigation focuses on the suitability of Mahanadi Riverbed Sand (MRS) for nonferrous alloy casting. The sand particle size, chemical composition, density, and fusion point, are evaluated and found suitable for nonferrous alloy casting. The mold ingredients are designed and optimized through the design of the experiment and response surface methodology, respectively. It is found that 11.5 wt.% of bentonite clay, 5 wt.% of moisture, and 3.5 wt.% of coal dust is suitable to achieve the desire sand mold properties. The fusion point of MRS shows that it is not suitable for ferrous casting. Therefore, aluminum alloy (A356) casting is performed using MRS and silica sand mold. The as-cast surface roughness (R a ), hardness, and microstructures of A356 alloy casting are evaluated and compared between MRS and silica sand mold castings. It is observed that the mechanical properties of MRS mold casting are better than silica sand mold casting and may be used as an alternative to silica sand for aluminum alloy casting in Indian foundry industries.