OBJECTIVE :

To study the causes of different value of GFN in the casting processes.

INTRODUCTION :

A system developed by AFS for rapidly expressing the average grain size of a given
sand. It approximates the number of meshes per inch of that sieve that would just pass the
sample if its grains of uniform size. It is approximately proportional to the surface area per
unit of weight of sand, exclusive of clay. GFN, provides the foundry a way to justify that
which sand specification for the castings being produced and helps avoid conditions that can
lead to potential casting problems. Sand quality can affect the quality of castings produced.
If it is too fine higher GFN or too coarse it called lower GFN. Sand that is too fine can create
low permeability and resultin casting gas defects. Sand with high permeability (too coarse)
can create problems with metal penetration, rough surface finish. The grain fineness of sand
is measured using a test called Sieve Analysis.

A sieve analysis is a practice or procedure used to assess the particle size

distributionof a granular material. Sand sieve analysis is a method for determining the grain
sizedistribution of particles typically between 0,063 mm and 1,400 mm.

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METHODOLOGY :

The screens on the sieves wan clean carefully by turning the sieves face down and
striking the rim evenly on the table. The screen must not touch with fingers. The
sieves should not beat hard to avoid damage on the rim.
The sand sample was weight 50 grams.
The stack of sieves was placed on the Sieve Shaker Octagon machine. The top sieve
of the sieves shaker contains the bigger mesh size which is 1,400 mm.
The weighing sand sample was poured into the top sieve of the sieves shaker.
Set vibration time to 15 minutes, vibration amplitude to 5, cycle time to 10 seconds
and waiting time for intermitted shaking to 5 seconds in the Mode Function.
After the shaking operations, the top sieve was taken apart and left over sand of the
sieves was wiped using brush and carefully weighed. The weight was recorded.
The previous step was repeated until the left over sand in the last sieve was weighed
and the value was recorded.
The Grain Fineness Number (GFN) was calculated
Total Product
AFS Grain Fineness Number =
Total Percent of Sand Retained

Picture 1. Sieve Shaker Octagon machine Picture 2. retained sand

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RESULT:

Weight of sample taken= 50,03 g

Sieve Series Aperture size Sand retained Percentage Multiplier Product

No in mm an each sieve of sand
retained

1 1,400 0,043 0,088245 6 0,52947

2 1,000 0,009 0,01847 9 0,166229

3 0,710 0,210 0,430964 15 6,464456

4 0,500 1,250 2,56526 25 64,13151

5 0,355 5,431 11,1454 35 390,094

6 0,250 16,762 34,39911 45 1547,96

7 0,180 16,924 34,73157 60 2083,894

8 0,125 5,542 11,37334 81 921,2404

9 0,090 1,000 2,052208 118 242,1606

10 0,063 0,675 1,385241 164 227,1794

Pan 0,882 1,810048 275 497,7631

Total 48,728 100 5981,583

Total Product 5981,583

AFS Grain Fineness Number = = =59,81583
Total Percent of Sand Retained 100

3
 40

percentage of %retained sand

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
AFS Grain Fineness Number

DISCUSSION:

GFN is a measure of the average size of the particles or grains in a sand sample. AFS-
GFN gives the metalcasting facility a means to verify its molding sand is staying within
specification for the castings being produced and avoid conditions that could lead to
potential casting problems.

At the end we have found the AFS grain fineness number is 59,81583 g which is
higher than 50,03g . As a result of this we can say that the sand sample has fine grain. The
total retained mass of the sand sample is 48.728 g. Which is different from the mass we
were weighed before the experiment. We measured sand mass before experiment was
50,03 g. There is a difference about 1,302 g. So, the difference in the mass value of the sand
can be expect form some of the errors during the experiment. Human factor, enviromental
factors and the machine errors can cause these difference. The sand must be porous so that
the gases generated are allowed to escape. Size of the sand and its shape its depend on the
materials and casting process. The small size provided better surface finish but the large
grain size is more permeable. The sand should have good thermal conductivity, so that the
heat from casting is quickly transferred.

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CONCLUSION:

In this experiment, by using sieve analysis, we obtained the value of the GFN is
104.89. The sand sample used in this experiment is too fine because of the higher value of
GFN. Also some errors occured in this experiment. The total accumulated sand mass was
different from original mass which is 48.728 g however the original mass is 100 g. To not
have any errors in the experiment, some precautions can be taken in order to get the exact
data in this experiment. Finally, in this experiment we observed the measuring the grain size
of sand sample and different value of GFN in the casting processes.

REFERENCES

Serope Kalpakjian, Steven R. Schmid, Manufacturing Technology andFundamental,

5th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2004.
http://www.atilim.edu.tr/~kazim.tur/mate401/Dosyalar-LAB/MATE%20401-Lab-
Exp.01-AFS%20grain%20fineness%20number.pdf
Serope Kalpakjian, Steven R. Schmid, Manufacturing Processes for
EngineeringMaterials, 4th Edition, Illinois Institute Of Technology, Prentice Hall, 2003.
https://en.wikipedia.org/foundry_sand_testing
http://www.engnet/glossary_GFN
http://www.sfsa.org/sfsa/glossary/deftrmgg.html