Performance of resin bonded sand for magnesium alloy casting

The factors which affect performance of no-bake resin bonded sand (NBRBS) were investigated, including furan resin, curing agent and boric acid content and kinds of collapsibility agents and base sand. The results show that when the furan resin addition is 1.6 wt% of base sand content and the curing agent addition is 50 wt% of furan resin content, the comprehensive performance of NBRBS achieves optimization. The use of boric acid increases the curing speed, retained strength and gas evolution. The use of KI reduces the retained strength with a good tensile strength. When ceramacore being used as base sand, furan resin addition decreases greatly, and the tensile strength increases, gas evolution and retained strength both decrease, which can improve collapsibility of NBRBS. The SEM analysis demonstrates that the ceramacore particle is round, appeares standard sphere, and the ceramacore can form complete bonding film and bridge.