Volume : 2, Issue : 1, January - 2013

A Study on Foundry Sand: Opportunities for Sustainable and Economical Concrete

Dushyant Bhimani, Jayeshkumar Pitroda, Jaydevbhai Bhavsar

Abstract :

Foundries for the metal–casting industry generate by– products such as used foundry sand. Metal foundries use large amounts of the metal casting process. Foundries successfully recycle and reuse the sand many times in a foundry and the remaining sand that is termed as foundry sand is removed from foundry. Foundry sand is uniformly sized, highquality silica sand that is combined with a binder and used to form molds for ferrous and nonferrous castings. Used foundry–sand properties vary due to the type of equipment used for foundry processing, the types of additives, the number of times the sand is reused, and the type and amount of binder. Within the concrete industry, the most successful examples have been using coal fly ash to make high–quality, durable concrete and recycling old, demolished concrete as aggregate for new concrete. This study presents the information about the opportunities for sustainable and economical concrete. Applications of foundry sand, which is technically, sound, environmentally safe for sustainable development. Use of foundry sand in various engineering applications can solve the problem of disposal of foundry sand and other purposes. Foundry sand consists primarily of silica sand, coated with a thin film of burnt carbon, residual and dust. Foundry sand can be used in concrete to improve its strength and other durability factors. Foundry Sand can be used as a partial replacement of cement or as a partial replacement of fine aggregates or total replacement of fine aggregate and as supplementary addition to achieve different properties of concrete.