CO2 Molding Process

CO2 Molding Process

The Mold for Co2 Casting is made of

a mixture of sand and liquid silicate
binder
Which is hardened by passing Co2
gas over the mold.
Carbon dioxide molding deliver great
accuracy in production.

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Kind of Sand casting process

Dimensionally accurate castings with fine surface finish

Process is not economical than green sand casting
process
Its rapid mold hardening
Moisture is completely eliminated from the molding
sand
Good surface finish
Thin section casting
Hard mold
Less machining
High production run

Mold
The material for making the mold
Clean dry silica sand

The binder used is sodium silicate liquid

(Na2SiO3) about 3 to 4%.
That mold receive its strength from the
addition of sodium silicate,
A liquid inorganic binder that is also known
as water glass and become harder by flow
of carbon die oxide gas.
CO2 is blown into the mold or core at a
pressure of around 20 psi, which hardens
the mold.

Applications
The modification of CO2 process can be
used
Where speed and flexibility is the prime
requirement.
When certain portions of a mold require
high strength, better accuracy, thinner
sections or deep draws.
Molds and cores of a varied sizes and
shapes can be molded by this process.

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Cylinder
Impellers: a rotating device used to force a fluid
in a desired direction under pressure
Agricultural machines; lifting machines; grinding
machines; medical machines, automobile cars,
etc

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Some sodium silicate bonding agent
permit self-setting action without
CO2.
Special carbonaceous sands or sea
coal improves shakeout (The act of
removing castings from the sand
mold ).
It also reduces pollution.

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Silicate bonded sands can be shaken out
relatively easily by mixing additives in
them to enhance the collapsibility of
sodium silicate mold.
Sugar is used up to 12% as a breakdown
agent so the core deteriorates fully after
solidification of mold.
The molding sand can be reused by
adding 30% new sand.

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Procedure:
The mold is prepared from this mixture by
Standard molding machines
Core blowers
By hand

After the mold has been prepared with the

required cavity.
Before removing the molding jacket
CO2 gasket is fitted on top of the flask or a
hood is placed on top of larger molds
CO2 is blown into the mold.

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

Sodium Silicate binder reacts with the CO2
to form silica gel, which gives it a strong
and smooth surface.
The reaction is as follow:

Na2SiO3 + CO2 SiO2 + Na2CO3

This silica gel acts as cement to bond sand
grains together.
In some case, CO2 molding has been used
together with zircon sand to give superior
finish and to make permenent molds or

CO2-Sodium Silicate Casting

CO2 must be blown uniformly through the
sand body with pattern to harden the
contact area.
Small tubes and vented pattern facilitate
this process.
The time of CO2 blowing is 15 to 30s.
Sand mixed with sodium silicate is packed
around a metal pattern to a depth of about
1 in followed by regular molding sand.

Disadvantages
The hardened sand has poor
collapsibility, so creates shakeout
and core removal difficulty and the
additives are generally to enhance
the collapsibility.
Care must be taken to prevent the
carbon dioxide in air from hardening
the sand before the mold making
process is complete.
It is more expensive than the other
sand methods, and harder to shake