Research of the New Laboratory Methodology for Measuring the Disintegration of Mixtures with Inorganic Binders Hardened by Dehydration

Abstract

The paper deals with the possibilities of using alkali silicate based inorganic binders for automotive industry aluminium castings production. In recent years, inorganic binders are coming back to the foreground and their manufacturers are developing new processes, which are starting to progressively supersede organic binder systems. Paper describes known knowledge about classic alkali silicate binders with focus on hardening processes and on improving their technological properties. Trends from the area of development and the use new alkali silicate based inorganic binders are also shortly described. As part of the experimental work, specific methods of producing samples were developed, with the help of which properties such as disintegration were subsequently evaluated by measuring abrasion and residual strengths. Characteristics such as residual compressive strength or shear strength at different thermal loads were also evaluated. When comparing the laboratory results with the results of de-coring in real conditions, a high degree of correlation was achieved, which makes it possible to determine the optimal recipe/procedure for the production of geometrically complex cores.