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Finger millet husk ash Si3N4 as an alternative mold material for green sand mold casting of AA7075 alloys: an optimization study

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to minimize casting defects and porosity in the casting of high-performance aluminum alloy (AA 7075) by using recycled sand mold with Si3N4 additive derived from finger millet husk. The another objective of this research was to find the optimized quantity of additive and water to be used into the sand mold as well as identifying the most influencing process variable to achieve flawless AA 7075 castings. The Si3N4 particles were prepared using thermo-chemical process and grinded to fine size using mortar. Based on the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array, the castings were made using three level of sand with binder (bentonite), Si3N4, and water. Results revealed that the experiment pattern A2B3C2 is the most promising combination to produce overall better results. The addition of Si3N4 improved the solidification and heat removal management. The casted samples possess coarse grains and medium grains in all 9 test conditions. However, the optimization process revealed the most influencing and refined defect ratio and porosity. According to the min and max difference level, the Si3N4 was found to be the most influencing process variable than sand and water content. Moreover, the confirmation test revealed that the optimized new set of process variable A2B3C1 produced refinement in GRG of 0.794 with an improvement of 1.79%, which is equal to the reduced defect rating and porosity of 1.642 and 0.343 respectively. These optimized and bioceramic replaced sand casting process could make a path to produce casting products with cleaner production concern.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Natrayan

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Saveetha Engineering College, Thandalam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Balaji Navaneethakrishnan

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  1. Natrayan
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  2. Balaji Navaneethakrishnan
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Natrayan Prabhushankar—Research design and execution

Balaji Navaneetha Krishnan—Testing support

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Correspondence to Natrayan.

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Natrayan, Navaneethakrishnan, B. Finger millet husk ash Si3N4 as an alternative mold material for green sand mold casting of AA7075 alloys: an optimization study. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04814-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04814-5

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