Studies of Binding Kinetics and Choice of Self-Hardening Moulding and Core Sands Used for Casting Massive Parts for Wind Power Industry under the Conditions of Krakodlew Foundry

In highly developed countries, a significant progress in the use of alternative and clean energy sources has recently been observed. The European Union has implemented a programme to build wind turbines. It is estimated that in the coming years, thanks to the support in tax and credit, the global energy will develop very intensively. Many components of the wind turbines are castings. The basic material used for these castings is ductile iron, which in this particular case must meet high requirements imposed by the operating conditions of wind turbines. Anticipating an increase in customer demand for this type of castings, Krakodlew SA has decided to modernize its foundry using the ability to obtain external financing. The ductile iron manufacturing technology is now being developed and adapted to the specific conditions of the foundry plant, including the melting process yielding cast material with the required chemical composition, the technology of moulding, and the conditions for possible secondary metallurgy, spheroidizing treatment and graphitizing inoculation. The fulfilment of the imposed conditions for the casting production demands the use of advanced casting technologies introduced to the manufacturing process. The development of technology to launch the production of ductile iron castings for the wind power industry was supported by The National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR). This article presents part of research on the binding kinetics of furan resin sands and choice of their composition for moulds and cores to make heavy castings used as components of equipment for the wind power industry.