Optimization of time and temperature for thermal reclamation of furan resin based sand

The moulding sand is an important material in foundries to produce the castings and there is no suitable substitute for this sand invented so far. The availability of good quality high silica sand suitable for foundry industry is becoming scarce due to high demand and also strict restriction in mining of sand due to ecological reasons. The reclamation of used sand is becoming mandatory in order to avoid the scarcity and also disposal of used sand has become a serious issue due to environment reasons. Hence an attempt has been conducted in detail on furan resin bonded used sand collected from various foundries in and around Coimbatore area. The furan based used sand properties like loss on ignition (LOI), total gas evolution, sulphur content & pH were measured. Experiments were conducted in muffle furnace on collected samples at different time and temperature to identify the suitable and feasible properties of thermally reclaimed sand with fresh/new sand.