Determination of AFS Clay in Foundry Sand

Kimmy Robert R. de Chavez

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An experiment carried out to determine AFS Clay content in the sand grains found in the MSU-IIT campus.
The samples were obtained using standard sampling methods and dried. It was then diluted to 1000 mL of distilled
with standard NaOH solution that served as dispersing agent. The mixture underwent clay washing that involved
constant stirring and repetitive siphoning until the sand superheated water was clear to eliminate AFS clay. The
remaining grains were dried and weighed enabling computations of AFS clay present.

1. Introduction errors, sand has to be washed off the mechanical

Foundry sand is the principal moulding
material where it is used for all types of castings,
irresponsive of whether the cast metal is ferrous or
non-ferrous, iron or steel. This is because it possesses
the properties vital for foundry purposes. The most
important characteristic of sand is its refractory
nature due to which it can easily withstand the high
temperature of the molten metal and does not fused.
The degree of strength, hardness and
permeability of the foundry sand can be adjusted to
determine if the foundry sand has the correct
properties for a certain casting process. One of these
criteria is the AFS clay content of the said material.
Clay imparts the necessary bonding strength to the
moulding sand so that after ramming, the mould does
not lose its shape. That makes the clay a very vital
component for the plastic behavior of the foundry
sand. According to the Unified Soil Classification
System (USCS), foundry sand of clay ranging from 0
to 12% is acceptable. An experiment carried out to
determine AFS Clay content in the sand grains found
in the MSU-IIT campus.
2. Experimental Set Up and Procedure
stirrer into the beaker and filled with distilled water
to a height of 6 inches above the bottom of the
beaker. It was then allowed to settle for ten minutes
and siphoned off 5 inches of superheated water. This
process was repeated until the water was clear to a
depth of 5 inches at the end of the 5 minutes period.
Any particle that did not settle through 5
inches of water in five minutes may contain active
clay, dead clay, silt sea coal, cellulose, cereal, ash,
fines and any other materials that float in water. The
remaining grains were dried and weighed. The
difference between the weight of the dried grains and
that of the original dried sample represents AFS clay.
3. Results and Discussions
Table 1. Tabular Data for AFS Clay Content Test
Initial Weight 50.027g
Dried Weight 49.012g
Remaining weight 46.390g
AFS Clay Content (%) 5.24%
Dried WeightRemaining Weight
%AFS Clay =
Initial Weight
100

A 50 g sample was obtained using standard 49.012g46.390g

=
50.027g
x100
sampling methods, and dried in the oven at 100oC
one hour to remove moisture or probable causes of
discrepancies. The dried sand was then weighed and = 5.24%
transferred in a 1 L beaker added with 475 mL of
distilled water and 25 mL of standard NaOH solution After drying the remaining sand grains, there
by dissolving 30 g NaOH diluted to 1000 mL of is a significant decrease of its weight from 49.012g to
distilled water. NaOH served as dispersing agent to 46.390g. The loss of weight indicates the AFS Clay
loosen the clay. content of the foundry sand with a corresponding
The mixture was consistently stirred for 5 percentage of 5.24%.
minutes using a mechanical stirrer to liberate clay
particles from the sand grains. To avoid further 4. Conclusion

Based on the results analyzed above, A
5.24% of AFS Clay was present of the sand grains
sample. According to from Unified Soil
Classification System (USCS), acceptable clay
content ranges from 0-12%. Thus, the foundry sand
sample is suitable for moulding work.
5. References
1.Scott, Honeyman, American Foundry Society.
What Do the Numbers Mean? Minneapolis:
Carpenter Brothers Inc. http://www.afsinc.org/
(Accessed 2017-04-05)
2. Krysiak, Mary Beth. Basic Green Sand Control
Program. Modern Casting Publication, 1994.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ (Accessed 2017-04-
05).
3. Woodson, Robert Dodge. Concrete Portable
Handbook. Wyman Street, Waltham: Elsevier Inc.,
2012. https://books.google.com.ph/ (Accessed
2017-04-05).