Sodium Silicate Processes

1. Introduction
One of the easiest modern moulding and coremaking processes for instructional and small foundries to use
is the sodium silicate/ CO2 process. In this process, liquid sodium silicate (“waterglass”) is mixed with the
sand. The sand is rammed into a mould or corebox and cured by passing CO2 gas through the mould/core.
Sodium silicate mould/cores are very strong. The bond is so strong that hot tearing and collapsibility can be
an issue.
Moulds and cores made from this process produce less gas than other processes. Cleanup is also easy since
water can dissolve the sodium silicate. Sodium silicate binders are odorless and produce no volatile organic
compounds when metal is poured into moulds. The environmental friendliness, ease of cleanup, and
simplicity makes the process very simple to conduct.

2. Classification
Depending on the method of hardening, sodium silicate processes are of two classifications. One is self-
hardened sodium silicate molding process and the other is the carbon dioxide hardened sodium silicate
molding process.

2.1 Self-hardened sodium silicate process

In this process, the molding sand is hardened by mixing up of Portland cement or blast furnace slag or the
ferrosilicon, etc., and the setting time will be from 2 hours and it takes even 24 hours, sometimes even
more.

2.1 The CO2 process

In this process, sand is bonded using sodium silicate and for the hardening purpose, carbon dioxide gas is
passed. As in resin-bonded sands, the sand is mixed with sodium silicate (care should be taken not to
overmix the sand, which will produce a crumbly mixture), placed around the pattern, and vibrated to
compact it. The sand is then gassed with carbon dioxide gas (hence the name “CO2 process”), which
hardens the mould almost immediately. The process is very rapid and only about a few seconds to 2
minutes of CO2 gas passing at 1 to 2 bar (140 kPa) pressure is required. The process is very cheap and takes
less space. The methods of gassing in the corebox are illustrated in Fig. 1 (a–c) and, in the mould, f. This
gas is dispensed from banks of cylinders or from a bulk liquid container. Moulds are cured 24 h at room
temperatures in dry conditions (high humidity softens the bond). During this time, their strength increases
as a result of some dehydration of unreacted silicates and continued gelling of the silicate. They have good
shelf life thereafter.
Sodium silicate foundry binders are metastable solutions with molecular ratios in the range 1,5 to 3.1 are
employed. There are two hardening mechanisms that take place. First, there is dehydration by evaporation.
Second, the reaction with CO2 removes the sodium oxide from the silicate, and the silicate gels. The
hardening reaction that take places is as follows:

Na2O . mSiO2 . (mn+x)H2O + CO2 = Na2CO3 . xH2O + m (SiO2 . nH2O)

Sodium silicate Sodium bicarbonate Silica gel

SiO2 thus liberated will be amorphous and forms a gel causign increased strength and viscosity.
The amount of silicate binder varies from 3 to 6% by weight, depending on the type of sand, its grain
fineness, and the amount and type of contaminants present in the sand. In foundries SiO 2:Na2O ratio of the
sodium silicates used is of the order of 2:1 with specific gravities of 1.5 to 1.7.

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 Fig. 1. Examples of systems for carbon dioxide hardening of cores and mould parts:
(a) progressive treatment using single probe, (b) cover board or hood, (c) multiple probe and
manifold, (d) hood over previously stripped cores, (e) treatment of mould after pattern draw,
(f) passage of gas through hollow pattern

Fig. 2. Influence of carbon dioxide flow on compression strength, illustrating reduction of

strength on overgassing. Sands of varying mesh with constant binder content of 4%
(courtesy of American Foundrymen’s Society)

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The influence of gassing time on bond strength was illustrated in Fig. 2. It is seen that the passing of CO2
gas is critical and the strength of the mould increases with time and velocity of gas passed but the strength
of the bond becomes impaired by overgassing. Overgassing forms sodium bicarbonate and sodium
carbonate, which embrittle the gel. Theoretical consideration shows that the ratio of CO2 gas required to
complete bicarbonate stage is 0.22 per unit weight of silicate. However, some excess CO 2 should always be
flowed (about 1.5 or even higher ratio than theoretical demand) due to inefficient use of CO2 gas in actual
foundry conditions.
Normal sand handling equipment can be used to prepare the sand. Core boxes and patterns for sodium
silicate moulds may be made of wood, metal, or plastic, and they must be washed thoroughly after use to
prevent a buildup of sodium silicate. Mulling equipment and ramming tools must also be washed
thoroughly after use. Sand mixes that have not been used should be covered with a wet cloth to prevent a
hard surface crust from forming because the mixture will slowly cure in air. The sand has reasonably good
bench life, but if impurities such as ferrosilicon or lime are present in the sand the bench life is shortened.

3. Advantages and Limitations

Moulds and cores prepared by sodium silicate process have adequate strength and hardness to provide good
dimensional tolerances and better better surface finish to the casting. The mould and cores can be made well
in advance because of their high bench life.
The sodium silicate process is expensive as fresh silica sand is needed every time. Sand reclamation
remains as the most serious limitation to a process otherwise noted for its relatively slight environmental
impact. A combination of mechanical reclamation and water reclamation has shown promise, but recovery
rates are limited to about 70%.
Another disadvantage of the sodium silicate process is poor collapsibility and additives are often added to
improve mould breakdown. The effect of casting temperature on the properties of the bonded sand is
summarized in Fig. 3, where the very high retained strength explains the need for breakdown agents in
silicate bonded sands. Molasses, wood flour, starch, cereals and coal dust have been employed for this
purpose, but proprietary one-shot high ratio silicates containing starch hydrolysate were later developed to
combine high bond strength with stability and excellent breakdown properties. However, these accelerate
the deterioration of mould strength in high humidity conditions.

Fig. 3. High temperature and retained strengths of sodium silicate bonded sand
(courtesy of American Foundrymen’s Society)

4. Applications
Despite the growth in the application of the organic bonding systems, the CO2 process retains a significant
role in the production of moulds for both ferrous and non-ferrous castings, and in general coremaking,
especially for larger castings.

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