Wet tensile testing is a common method to assess the stability of bentonite-bonded moulding sands. For wet tensile testing, a specimen is first heated from above in order to simulate heat-driven moisture transport induced by the casting process. Then, tensile stress is applied until rupture. In this study, neutron radiography imaging was applied to moulding sands in situ during heating and wet tensile testing in order to investigate the effects of water kinematics on the tensile strength. Neutron radiography allowed the localization of the rupture plane and the quantitative determination of the local water content with sub-mm resolution. Quantification of the temperature at the rupture plane and of the heat kinematics within the specimen was accomplished by temperature measurements both in situ and ex situ. In this way, experimental data correlating the wet tensile strength with the specific conditions of moulding sands at the rupture plane were obtained for the first time. that the weakest location within a sand profile can be pinpointed at the interface between evaporation and condensation zone (i.e. at the 100 • C isotherm), where water vaporization starts and the water bridges connecting the sand grains collapse. This weakest location has maximum strength, if the local water content at the rupture plane is between 5 and 9 wt.%. Less water leads to a strong decrease of wet tensile strength. More water requires an initial water content above 5 wt.%, which leads to a decrease of the tensile strength of the unheated sand.

Bentonite-bonded quartz sand is the most common mould material used in foundry industry. During casting, however, the moulding sand undergoes alterations, which deteriorate its properties. Aim of this work, therefore, was to gain accurate insights into the relation between smectite alteration and property change. To this end, the wet tensile strengths of heat pre-treated and cyclically reused sands were related to the kinematics of water within the sand as measured by in-situ neutron radiography and neutron diffraction. Sands subjected to 22 cycles of drying (T = 120°C) and remoistening (3 wt%) revealed modifications of the d values of the basal reflections of smectites. No significant change of tensile strength, however, was associated with these modifications. Contrarily, sands pre-treated with temperatures as low as 225°C revealed a reduction of tensile strength, which was neither correlated to the loss of tightly bound water nor to dehydroxylation. For temperatures above 300°C a correlation between the reduction of tensile strength and the loss of tightly bound water or early dehydroxylation was evident. With completing dehydroxylation of the smectites above 670°C, total loss of wet tensile strength of the pre-heated sands was observed. The results showed that cyclic use of moulding sand had little impact on the sand quality as long as the temperature of the sand remained low. For the practice in foundry, the results imply that a rigorous separation of heat-exposed sand is advantageous.

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