BINDING EFFICACY OF NARAGUTA CLAY ON THE FOUNDRY PROPERTIES OF RIGISHI RIVER SAND

Abstract

Binding efficacy of Naraguta clay on the foundry properties of Rigishi River sand had been successfully studied.  Particle size analysis, chemical analysis and other foundry properties such as green compressive strength, green shear strength, dry compressive strength, dry shear strength, moisture content, compactibility and permeability values were all tested.  Particle size analysis of Rigishi River sand revealed that 75.1% of the sand was retained on the four sieve sizes of 0.50mm, 0.25mm, 0.18mm and 0.355mm with Grain Fineness Number of 61.51. The chemical analysis conducted using X-ray fluorescence revealed that Rigishi River sand has S₁O₃ (93.5%) TiO₂ (1.43%) and Fe₂O₃ (2.85%) as its  predominant oxides.  Mechanical properties results obtained showed that it has; green compressive strength (33.90KNm²),   dry compressive strength (246.43 KNm²) , moisture content(3.80%), permeability  (153.16KNm²) and refractoriness of  1586⁰C.  From the results it was found that 5% of water and 5% Naraguta clay content were most suitable for mouldingRigishi River sand for application in ferrous and non ferrous foundry industry.  This results demonstrated the possibility of making sand casting using Naraguta clay as binder.