Early-Age Mechanical Properties of 3D-Printed Mortar with Spent Garnet

This study determines the effect of spent garnet as a replacement for natural sand in 3D-printed mortar at early ages. Five mixes with different spent garnet amounts were prepared (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% by volume). The ratio of binder to aggregate remained unchanged. In all mixes the water/binder ratio was assumed as a constant value of 0.375. Tests were performed to confirm the printability of the mix (a path quality test using a gantry robot with an extruder). Determinations of key buildability properties of the mix (green strength and Young’s Modulus) during uniaxial compressive strength at 15 min, 30 min and 45 min after adding water were conducted. A hydraulic press and the GOM ARAMIS precision image analysis system were used to conduct the study. The results showed that an increase in spent garnet content caused a decrease in green strength and Young’s Modulus (up to 69.91% and 80.37%, respectively). It was found that to maintain proper buildability, the recommended maximum replacement rate of natural sand with garnet is 50%. This research contributes new knowledge in terms of using recycled waste in the 3D printing technology of cementitious materials.

Optimization of Aluminum Sand Casting process parameters on RSM and ANN methods

Sand casting is one of the best processes to produce a product to satisfy the customer requirements. The prime advantages of choosing the sand casting technique are perfect dimensional geometry, development of pattern is easy, production rate is high, and solidification time is low when compared to other casting techniques. The main purpose of sand casting is to produce a product with better quality in low cost. The properties of the green sand are based on the sand composition and the most important parameters in the preparation of moulding sand are green strength, moisture content and clay content. In this work, the silica oxide is blended in green sand with various compositions for cope box. The various compositions of sand parameters are experimentally investigated by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The results of sand parameters are compared with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis. The blending of 9.2% SiO2 with green sand is very suitable for this casting process. The blending of 9.2% SiO2 with green sand is very suitable for this casting process. The effect of SiO2 blending with green sand, the initial raw material is reduced up to 25% of volume without casting defects. The hardness value increased up to 22% and the surface roughness decreased up to 12% by varying the percentage of SiO2 in green sand.

Study of Aquilaria crassna Wood as an Antifungal Additive to Improve the Properties of Natural Rubber as Air-Dried Sheets

Fungal growth on rubber sheets confers inferior properties and an unpleasant odor to raw natural rubber (NR) and products made from it, and it causes environmental concerns. The purpose of the present work was to investigate the effects of Aquilaria crassna wood (ACW) on the antifungal, physical and mechanical properties of NR as air-dried sheets (ADS) and ADS filled with ACW. The results show that the ACW-filled ADS had an increased Mooney viscosity, initial plasticity (PO), and high thermo-oxidation plasticity (i.e., high plasticity retention index PRI). Additionally, superior green strength was observed for the ACW-filled ADS over the ADS without additive because of chemical interactions between lignin and proteins in NR molecules eliciting greater gel formation. A significant inhibition of fungal growth on the NR products during storage over a long period (5 months) was observed for ACW-filled ADS. Thus, it can be concluded that ACW could be applied as an antifungal additive that reduces fungal growth. This is a practically important aspect for the rubber industry, as fungal growth tends to spoil and cause the loss of NR sheets during storage. Moreover, the ACW is active as an incense agent, reducing negative impacts from odors that fungi, on rubber surfaces, release. Therefore, these filled intermediate NR products provide added value through, an environmentally friendly approach, this is pleasant to customers.

Toughening of Ceramic Shell Mould with Rice Husk Fiber (CSm-RH) to Improve Strength Property and Mould Performance

For ages, ceramic shell mould (CSm) have been extensively applied in investment casting industry. The formation of CSm requires multiple steps of dipping, layering drying and firing stages. The later steps are very crucial as the solidification thin layer CSm that consist of loose ceramic particles easily cracks when exposed to the higher thermal effect. The inclusion of fiber or any reinforces phases is able to enhance fired ceramic body and also strengthen the green ceramic structure. Thus, the feasibility of rougher NaOH treated rice husk fiber (RHT) prior embedded into composited structure has shown a significant CSm improvement by induced a better adhesion properties and larger bonding area with brittle ceramic matrix, resulted in increased green strength (1.34 MPa) and fired body strength (4.32 MPa). Owing to the decomposed of lignin layer in CSm with untreated rice husk fiber (CSm-RHU) exhibited a higher porosity that provide a better permeation paths of air flow during molten metal pouring as increased 30 % from the standard CSm permeability, giving an enormous benefit for investment casting cooling process. Overall, the incorporation of RHT fiber in a CSm matrix of both green and fired body governed in toughening of brittle ceramic body, hence avoid failure to the casting mould.

Metallurgical properties of iron ore pellet when using lime powder instead of bentonite

This paper reported effects of lime powder and bentonite binder using in iron ore pelletization on metallurgical properties of pellets as green strength, compressive strength and degree of reduction. The investigated pellets contain 0, 1 and 2 mass % of lime powder and 2, 1 and 0 mass % of bentonite, respectively. Green balls were dried (105 °c for 24 hours) then heated at 1200 °c for 30 minutes. The reductibility of fired pellets was examined at different temperatures of 900, 1000 and 1100 °c with various holding time (45, 90 and 120 minutes). The results showed that the combination of 1 mass % of bentonite and 1 mass % of lime powder in the pellet gave the most apropriate metallurgical properties of pellets as green strength, porosity and degree of reduction. This material charging ratio can be recommended for application in manufacturing of the pellet.

The Synergistic Effect of Ester-Ether Copolymerization Thixo-Tropic Superplasticizer and Nano-Clay on the Buildability of 3D Printable Cementitious Materials

The shape retention ability of materials deposited layer by layer is called buildability, which is an indispensable performance parameter for successful 3D printable cementitious materials (3DPC). This study investigated the synergistic effect of nano-clay (NC) and thixotropic superplasticizer (TP) on the buildability of 3DPC. The rheological parameters and static yield stress are characterized by the rheology testing, the green strength is measured by a self-made pressure tester, and the fluidity is tested by flow table. Results indicate that NC significantly increases the growth rate of static yield stress and green strength and TP can improve the initial rheological parameters and fluidity, which ensures the initial stiffness and workability of printed materials. The mixture with 7‰ (by mass of cementitious materials) NC and 3‰ TP obtains excellent extrudability and buildability, due to the synergistic effect of NC and TP. Based on the rheology testing and specific printing experiments, a printable window with 1.0 Pa/s~2.0 Pa/s of the rate of static yield stress evolution over time (RST) or 170 mm~200 mm of fluidity is established. This work provides theorical support for the control and evaluation of rheological properties in 3DPC.

Correlation Between Granule Strength and Green Strength at Compaction of Cemented Carbide Powder Materials

The correlation between granule strength and green strength of hard metal powders is examined. The approach is based on experiments and numerics. In the latter case, a Design of Experiment software is used. The granule strength of the powder (particle) is determined by GFP-measurements (“Granularfestigkeits-Prüfsystem”). During this test, a single particle is pressed from one side until breakage. The corresponding measurements of the green strength are done using three-point bend (3PB) testing. The experimental results show that the pressing agent has a strong influence on the behavior of both quantities. The statistical evaluation shows that the relation between the two strength properties is very close to linear with coefficient of determination R2 taking on the value 0.97. This of course indicates that it is possible to get information about one of the properties for a similar set of materials by experimentally determining the other one. This is of substantial practical importance as for one thing it can limit the amount of testing required. Even though the present investigation is pertinent to hard metal powders, the results could be of value for many other types of powder materials.

On the Relation Between Pressing Energy and Green Strength at Compaction of Hard Metal Powders

The relation between pressing energy and green strength is examined experimentally and numerically using a commercially available design of experiment (DOE) software, at compaction of five hard metal powder materials. This is of substantial practical importance, in particular at pressing of complicated geometries when high values on the green strength is necessary. The compaction energy is here experimentally determined at uniaxial compaction of a cylindrical die, filled with powder material, by measuring punch force and compression. The corresponding measurements of the resulting green strength are performed using standard three-point bend (3PB) testing. The statistical analysis of the results shows that the relation between the two properties, pressing energy and green strength, is very close to a linear fit with the coefficient of determination R2 taking on the value 0.92. This suggests that the pressing energy is an important quantity for reaching a target value on the green strength and the linear relation is certainly convenient in particular when compaction of similar materials is at issue. In parallel with the experimental work finite element calculations are performed in order to evaluate the effect from friction between the powder and the die wall, and it was found that this feature has a limited effect on the pressing energy when similar materials are at issue and is not detrimental for the usefulness of the present correlation approach.

Influence of Drop Velocity and Droplet Spacing on the Equilibrium Saturation Level in Binder Jetting

Understanding the equilibrium saturation level is crucial to Binder Jetting (BJ). Saturation level influences dimensional accuracy, print time, green strength, and final material properties. Improved understanding of the saturation level can reduce development time for new materials and improve existing processes in BJ. Attempts have been made to predict saturation levels of parts with simple calculations from droplet primitives and capillary pressure. There is, however, limited experimental validation for these methods and they do not include the impact of drop velocity and droplet spacing. This study incorporates the influences of drop velocity and droplet spacing on the saturation level of the part. Drop primitives of varying droplet velocity and droplet spacing were compared. Results show that velocity impacts the feasible parameter space.