CARBO’s ceramic media products improve quality and reduce costs

FEATURES Benefits
ƒƒ Low thermal expansion, high permeability ƒƒ Greater performance value and economics
ƒƒ Consistent physical, thermal and chemical properties versus silica and specialty sands respectively
ƒƒ High hardness with round and spherical shape ƒƒ Increased capability and consistency to cast
ƒƒ Chemically inert and non-hazardous complex parts
ƒƒ Reduced engineering time, waste, disposal and
ADVANtAGEs associated costs
ƒƒ Enhances precision and reduces defects of veining, ƒƒ Reduced environmental, safety and worker health
penetration, gas and burn-on concerns and associated risks and liabilities
ƒƒ Provides repeatable and predictable performance
ƒƒ Enhances flow, limits breakdown and promotes
recycling and reuse
ƒƒ Non-reactive and compatible with foundry metals,
resins and additives used

Superior performance, exceptional value Broad range of materials and processes

CARBOACCUCAST ceramic media, available in
low density (LD) and intermediate density (ID),
has been engineered to provide economic and
performance advantages versus sand products.
When used in process, it has been shown to
reduce scrap, cleaning time, production costs
and environmental concerns.
CARBOACCUCAST provides versatility for casting
in aluminum, gray and ductile iron, steel, copper,
magnesium and other metals in a variety of
processes such as lost foam, shell, no-bake,
v-process, green sand and investment and with
multiple bonding systems including phenolic
urethane, phenolic ester, furan, sodium silicate,
CARBOACCUCAST ID and ID-K
bentonite clays, shell resins and alkyd oils.

Particle Size/Permeability Properties

Sieve No. Microns ID15 ID25 ID40 ID50 LD20 LD30 LD40 LD45
ID15-K ID25-K ID40-K ID50-K
16 1,180 0.5 – – – 0.0 – – –
18 1,000 7.0 – – – – – – –
20 850 33.8 4.9 0.0 – 5.6 0.0 – –
30 600 54.9 55.0 0.1 0.0 65.6 1.2 0.0 0.0
40 425 4.0 39.7 19.0 0.1 28.2 91.1 31.9 1 CARBOACCUCAST LD
50 300 – 0.4 71.7 37.4 0.6 6.7 45.6 68
70 212 – – 8.0 44.6 0.0 1.0 21.5 30
100 150 – – 1.1 16.4 – 0.0 0.9 1
140 106 – – 0.1 1.5 – – 0.0 –
200 75 – – – 0.0 – – – –
270 53 – – – – – – – –
Pan – – – – – – – 0
AFS GFN 15 25 40 50 20 30 40 45
Permeability 2,189 979 419 222 985 697 329 297

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 CARBOACCUCAST

Physical, Thermal & Chemical Properties

Physical/Thermal Properties (@1100°C)
ID ID-K LD Zircon Chromite Silica
ASG 3.23 3.20 2.68 4.65 4.51 2.65
GFN 40 40 40 110 50 60
Loose BD (lb/ft )
3
113 112 94 168 163 100
Packed BD (lb/ft3) 125 124 109 189 183 110
Thermal Expansion (% LC) 0.708 0.708 0.667 0.510 0.970 1.808
Coefficient of Expansion (1E-6 in/in-°C) 6.62 6.69 6.21 4.75 9.06 16.85
Thermal Conductivity (W/m-°C) 0.70 0.68 0.74 0.63 0.94 1.14
Heat Capacity (cal/g-°C) 0.291 0.293 0.292 0.197 0.235 0.284
Thermal Diffusivity (cm2/s) 0.0029 0.0027 0.0035 0.0025 0.0033 0.0054
Heat Diffusivity 106(W2s)/(m4°C2) 1.708 1.650 1.58 1.573 2.711 2.388
Square Root of Heat Diffusivity (Ws1/2)/(m2 °C) 1,307 1,284 1,257 1,254 1,647 1,545

Chemical Properties (%)

ID ID-K LD
Al2O3 75.00 70.00 47.70
SiO2 11.00 17.00 48.50
TiO2 3.00 4.00 2.10
Fe2O3 9.00 7.00 1.00
LOI (%) 0.15 0.20 0.02
Moisture (%) 0.03 0.02 0.08
pH 6.90 7.00 6.90
ADV @ pH 5 0.60 2.330 -1.30
ADV @ pH 7 0.00 1.383 -1.70

CARBOACCUCAST products are environmentally

friendly, chemically inert and contain no respirable
quartz silica.

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Low thermal expansion, fewer defects THERMAL EXPANSION PRODUCT COMPARISON

CARBOACCUCAST, versus silica sand, has a lower 2.5
thermal expansion, resulting in higher precision 2.0

Percent Linear Change

and accuracy of castings while also leading to
lower scrap cost and cost to correct inaccuracies. 1.5
It reduces the occurrence of casting defects such
1.0
as veining, penetration and burn-on, resulting in
lower cleaning cost. Its low thermal expansion 0.5
and greater flow properties increase the ability to
produce thin wall, complex castings and minimize 0
26 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
casting mass. Temperature, C°
CARBOACCUCAST LD CARBOACCUCAST ID
CHROMITE 50/60 ZIRCON SAND SILICA SAND

Data provided by Orton Refractories Testing and Research Center.

Ceramic media, designed for uniform size Broadly sieved and irregularly shaped
and shape, maximizes porosity, enhances media such as naturally occurring sands
permeability and strength that resist gas pack more tightly, resulting in reduced
defects and pellet breakdown porosity and permeability

SIEVE DISTRIBUTION COMPARISON – PERMEABILITY COMPARISON –

CARBOACCUCAST CERAMIC and SAND PRODUCTS CARBOACCUCAST CERAMIC and SAND PRODUCTS
100
90
250
80
70 200 214
Weight Percent

60
50 150 163
40
30 100
20 98
10 50 63
0 37
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 0
Sieve Mesh, ASTM Permeability
ID CERAMIC 50 LD CERAMIC 40 LD CERAMIC 40 ID CERAMIC 50
CHROMITE SAND 53 ZIRCON SAND 86 SILICA SAND 55 CHROMITE SAND 53 ZIRCON SAND 86 SILICA SAND 55

Ceramics provide a uniform sieve distribution, resulting in enhanced porosity and permeability.

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Greater strength, superior shape, reduced STRENGTH BREAKDOWN COMPARISON –

media consumption CARBOACCUCAST CERAMIC and SAND PRODUCTS
The high roundness and sphericity of Shape Mesh Pulverization
R/S Size Index %
CARBOACCUCAST enhance flow properties.
Ceramic 0.9/0.9 40 27.0
It's durability resists breakdown and media
Silica Sand 0.9/0.7 50 91.0
consumption while promoting reclamation thus Silica Sand 0.9/0.7 70 77.4
lowering the cost associated with transportation, Silica Sand 0.9/0.7 100 68.0
disposal and replacement. Olivine Sand 0.7/0.3 100 83.2
Zircon Sand 0.3/0.7 100 79.7
A lower pulverization index indicates a higher resistance to particle breakdown.
Data generated by the University of Western Michigan via DOE sponsored testing.

FILL TIME COMPARISON – VERTICAL CAVITY

Sand Gate Opening 60%
100
90
80
70
Fill Time, sec

60
50
40
30
Particulate shape factors greatly influence a media’s 20
flow and strength properties. Manmade ceramics 10
are designed with high roundness and sphericity to 0
maximize the product's flow and strength properties 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.5 1.5 1.5
while minimizing particle breakdown. Rounded, Acceleration Levels, G’s
spherical ceramics provide high flow, resulting in CARBOACCUCAST SILICA OLIVINE
increased production at reduced energy. Data provided by UAB/DOE Industry Consortium.

Lower density, lower cost per cubic foot MOLD AND CORE MEDIA MOLD AND CORE MEDIA
Media Cost/ft3 Comparison Relative to Zircon Sand Packed Density Comparison
With lower density than other specialty media,
CARBOACCUCAST requires less product (by ZIRCON SAND (Baseline Product) 100% ZIRCON SAND 189 lb/ft3
weight) to produce an equal volume of cores or
molds. It also provides lower costs per cubic foot CHROMITE SAND 183 lb/ft3
Product Type

Product Type

23% CHROMITE SAND

of product used.
CARBOACCUCAST ID 125 lb/ft3
21% CARBOACCUCAST ID
SILICA SAND 110 lb/ft3

15% CARBOACCUCAST LD CARBOACCUCAST LD 109 lb/ft3

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Media Cost Relative to Zircon Sand, % Packed Density, lb/ft3
Although the various casting media are Heavy sands such as Zircon and Chromite
purchased by weight ($/lb), they are all have high densities ≈50%+ greater than
consumed by volume (ft3) and, therefore, silica sand and ceramics that significantly
should be considered on a $/ft3 basis. impact the cost per volume.
CARBO Ceramics Inc. Data based on current product pricing as of March 1, 2012.
4701 W. Admiral Doyle Drive
New Iberia, Louisiana 70560 USA
T: 1+337-374-0583
F: 1+337-373-0337
CarboCeramics.com
Technical Sales Contact:
Claude A. Krause, Manager – Market Development
email: ckrause@carboceramics.com

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