Having a resin coated sand plant is essential for those foundries that wish to produce accurate castings that also conserve natural resources and reduce overall environmental impact.
However, these specialised sand plants aren’t always easy to comprehend as they involve complex chemical processes, specific equipment and thorough knowledge of foundry and casting operations.
We’re here to help you understand your equipment so you know exactly what you’re working with, providing great quality
foundry equipment for all your mould and casting needs!
What Are Resin Coated Sand Plants?
In simple terms, it is a manufacturing facility that produces resin coated sand, sometimes known as croning sand, which is a special foundry material used in the shell moulding process.
This material creates durable and accurate moulds and cores for casting metal parts, making them an excellent option for those foundries that value high-precision and high-quality metal castings with great surface finishes.
What is Needed?
Ingredients
- Sand – typically silica sand which is used as the base raw material.
- Resin – used as a binding agent, often phenolic resin, which essentially melts and coats the sand grains.
- A hardener – this is required to initiate and accelerate the curing process of the resin providing the required strength so that the mould can withstand high temperatures and pressures. This is typically hexamine.
Features
- A mixing chamber – a core sand mixer that heats and blends the resin with the hot sand.
- Heating apparatus – this heats the sand to a specific temperature.
- A vibrating screen – to pulvarise the lumping material from the mixer into a well-pourable, free-flowing product.
- A cooling apparatus – to cool this mixture into a suitable handling temperature
- A dust collector/cyclone – to control dust emissions for a safer working environment.
The Process and its Purpose
Firstly, raw or reclaimed sand is heated to a specific temperature, typically between 120-150 degrees celsius.
After this, the resin coating takes place which requires the heated sand to be mixed with a phenolic resin binder system– often involving phenolic resin, hexamine, and stearates– to form a durable, smooth coating on each grain.
Finally, this pre-coated sand is then used in automatic
core shooters to create the desired shapes for cores and moulds.
How Can We Help?
Here at Omega Sinto, we understand the important role coating plants have in any foundry. Our extensive knowledge has allowed us to carefully develop a range of
coating plant machinery to supply to foundries
across the globe – this includes an excellent automatic coating plant for the production of resin coated sand.
If you feel like something is missing in your foundry, explore our page and see how we can help. Alternatively, our staff are always happy to help assist you to help you find the best alternative for your business.
Get in touch today to get the most out of your foundry.