Effects of Moisture and Content of Moulding Sand Bentonite on the Electric Properties

The paper presents the results of laboratory tests into the effects of moisture and the content of two types of bentonite on dielectric properties of moulding sand. The use of electromagnetic waves in foundry industry is becoming more and more popular, which provides to some extent alternatives to conventional drying methods. Experimental studies published so far have shown the validity of using microwaves for drying classic moulding sands with bentonite. However, these studies lack data on the effect of moisture or bentonite content in moulding sand on the real component ε' or imaginary component ε'' of the relative complex electrical permittivity. The presented results may become in the future the basis for the evaluation of the composition of moulding sands, taking into account the phenomena occurring under the influence of electromagnetic field, which directly translates into the quality of the castings made and may constitute an attempt to develop a mathematical model of electric properties of moulding sands.