Progress report (P1)

In-service training feedback report (month 1)

Name: Benson Mwale

Student Number: 215023032

Company: Metal Casting Technology Station (MCTS)

Company profile Complete incomplete

Plant Safety Complete incomplete

Other tasks performed:

Detailed explanation of tasks performed

Pre-employment interview: A technical interview was done to examine my metallurgical

competency.

Orientation-Induction: Involved a brief overview on the operation of MCTS, knowledge on

how the station is operated including a time sheet and an enquiry register

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, quality management systems, awareness on quality and the safety measures, disciplinary
procedure, occupational health and safety standards of the station which involve the
importance of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), behaviour, working with tools etc.

Introduction to organisational structures: Being personally introduced to the station manager,

station engineers, supervisors and other employees of the station.

Introduction to mentor and mentorship programme: Being introduced to the mentor and the
mentorship programme of moulding technology.

Theoretical learning of the station: Studying the station overview, related articles and
explanation from other employees to understand the theoretical part of the stations sand
technology before starting with the training.

Speaking with the manager and asking questions regarding the safety department’s daily
routines such as their daily meetings, weekly work about, procedure reviews, statistical
reporting on safety, Risk assessment techniques used in the station, their interaction with
other departments such as the HR and administrator, station inspection procedures, and the
importance of Personal Protective Equipment and what it consists of and how it differs for
different work tasks.

Housekeeping in lab: Familiarisation with the work done in the lab which involve working
with machinery found in the foundry lab, some include mould and core strength tester, clay
wash tester and sieve agitator. The lab receives moulding materials like sand, bentonite, coal
dust and other moulding materials from different foundries and foundry suppliers to
determine the physical and mechanical properties of the samples to characterise these
different tests are performed to characterise these foundry moulding materials. Some of the
tests that been introduced are strength, bend strength of chemical resins sand system. Other
tests used to characterise moulding materials include sieve analysis, loss on ignition, moisture
content and others have been introduced as part of on duty training.

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Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

In-service training feedback report (month 2)

Name:

Student Number:

Company:

Plant/Lab familiarisation Complete incomplete

Unit operations of different machinery Complete incomplete

Other tasks performed: 1. Theoretical and practical learning of cores and core-making

2. House Keeping

3. Meetings

Detailed explanation of tasks perform

Lab Familiarisation: Working at different sections of the Lab, starting from getting familiar
with where the samples are stored, and the process of registering the samples for data
acquisition.

Theoretical and practical learning of cores and core making

Moulding material samples which include reclaimed sand, new sand, catalyst and resin from
Weir minerals were received in order to perform lab tests. The tests which were required was
the tensile strength and bend strength for the different set of new sand batches, namely floor
mixer, carousel and fast loop. All these batches mixed individually with reclaimed sand in
ratios of 30% new sand: 70 reclaimed sand and 20% new sand: 80% reclaimed sand. Sand
was mixed using a homogenizer and was mixed with 1.5% resin to the sand and 25% catalyst
to the resin to make transverse and dog bone cores for less than 3 minutes. They were
compacted or rammed in a core box and allowed to cure within 15 minutes and were ready to
be tested in different time intervals from 15 minutes, 2 hours, 4 hours and 24 hours by using a

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universal mould strength testing machine. This test was to determine the tensile strength and
bend strength using dog bone and transverse cores respectively, in different curing rates as
stated above.

Housekeeping in the lab

Cleaning and maintaining neat conditions in all sections of the lab, including putting back the
tools used and at their respective sections, Familiarisation with efficient and effective
cleaning of used tools with detergents that consist of methanol and acetone.

Meetings

Attended a technical meeting of the company which included the station manager,
department supervisors and station engineers, as they discussed the prospective future and the
financial state of the company. I was also eligible to attend a monthly meeting of the
moulding technology department, every last week of the month.

Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

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In-service training feedback report (month 3)

Name:

Student Number:

Company:

Shift work Complete incomplete

Detailed explanation of tasks performed during shift work

The working hours of the company start from 7:30 am to 4:30 pm on Monday to Thursdays
and 7:30 to 2:00 pm on Friday.

Report Writing

Results are recorded on a hardcopy template of which they are later transferred to a softcopy
spreadsheet. The averages of results obtained are calculated using Microsoft excel
spreadsheet which include loss on ignition, bend strength, sand tensile and bend strength, clay
washing, volatile material, tabulating sieve analysis retained results and plotting graphs.
Compiling a technical report using Microsoft word.

Maintenance

Attending the monthly meeting of the moulding technology department, in which matters of
maintenance, potential projects, reporting malfunctioning of machinery, troubleshooting of
un-operational furnaces, monitoring machinery which are not operating properly and
according to the required parameters, troubleshooting if the machinery are not operating
according to the required parameters. Making decisions with the help of my mentor on how
to trouble-shoot any problem occurrence. Turning on and off the machineries like furnaces to
avoid thermal shock, shut- downs and break-downs.

The consumables received from suppliers are recorded and dated. The glassware and
consumables used by the lab are also recorded in a spreadsheet every month to identify the
equipment required to be of use.

Tests

A number of tests are performed depending on the requisition of the quotation for the client.
The tests performed include Sieve analysis to determine the fineness or the AFS value of the
sand supplied, loss on ignition, pH testing, acid demand, clay wash testing etcetera.

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Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

In-service training feedback report (month 4)

Name:

Student Number:

Company:

Work-directed theoretical learning: Complete incomplete

Detailed explanation of tasks performed during Work-directed theoretical learning

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Sieve analysis or grading tests were carried out on a sand sample from a customer. Sieves of
know size were assembled according to the procedure required being ASTM sieve analysis
and British sieve analysis procedure. The sieves were placed on a sieve agitator, the machine
was programmed to vibrate for 15 minutes in order for the grains poured onto the coarsest
mesh size to separate coarser particles from the finer particles as they fall through the pan.
The purpose of the test was to obtain the mass difference of the sand taken in different sieve
mesh sizes.

The procedure requires 50g of sand, dried in an oven for 2 hours or using a hot air blower for
15 minutes at a temperature of 110 degrees Celsius. The sand was retained on each sieve and
the results were tabulated.

Acid demand

Sufficient fixed amount of sand was dried in the Ridsdale Blower Machine to remove any
moisture which lies within the sand (raw silica sand). From that fixed dry sand, weighed 50g
into a 250ml glass beaker and weighed 50ml of distilled water. Added 50 ml of 0.1 M of
sodium hydroxide (NaOH) by pipette. Stirred using a magnetic stirrer for 5 minutes and
allow the solution to settle for 30 minutes. Titrated with 0.1 M of HCl to neutralize the
solution (to get a pH of 7 under 3 minutes). Recorded the volume of the 0.1M of HCl which
was used.

Loss on ignition

Crucibles labelled X, Z and Y were taken to place 10g of sand in each crucible to remove
volatile material and carbon dioxide from carbides. This was done by placing the above
mentioned crucibles in a muffle furnace at a temperature of 982 OC for at least 2 hours, this is
to completely remove the volatiles until you achieve a constant weight of the sand. Allowed
the crucibles to cool at room temperature, and then we weighed the crucibles with the sand to
observe the final weight.

Friability test

Weighed 240g of greensand (4samples of greensand) then placed it through the funnel and
into the cylindrical container tolerance. We put the container (with the greensand inside)
under the Ridsdale Density Indicator then rammed it 3 times where each sample was below
the tolerance. The Muffle furnace was heated at 110oC and the 2 samples were placed in the
furnace for 2hours, and then cooled at room temperature. It is now called dry sand. Using the
Friability Testing Machine, 2 samples were placed inside facing the machine. A white sheet
of paper was placed under the machine and the machine would start going for 60 seconds.
After the Friability Testing Machine is finished, the sand which landed on the white sheet of
paper is then weighed. This tests were conducted twice to collect an average (in total we had
4 samples).

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Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

In-service training feedback report (month 5)

Name:

Student Number:

Company:

Problem based learning: Complete incomplete

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Detailed explanation of tasks performed during Problem based learning:

Friability

Friability helps to check the bonding of the sand, helps to determine if we will have casting

defects produced by sand. If we have a lot of sand resulting from the test, that means we will
have sand defects. We aim not to have a lot of sand coming from the mould.

Loss on ignition

Loss on ignition is a laboratory process done in the sand laboratory which is done to remove
volatile or impulsive substances which lie within the sand by heating the material at a specific
temperature, until its weight or mass stops to change, measuring the amount of combustible
materials contained in the sand.

This procedure may be done in air or in a reactive or inert atmosphere. The volatile
substances which are removed are combined water and carbon dioxides from the carbides.
This procedure is also conducted as a quality test, for minerals such as iron ore; for example,
the loss on ignition of a fly ash contains toxic un-burnt fuel. Fly ash is a residue which comes
from combustion and contains fine particles which rises with the flue gases.

Acid demand

The amount of acid needed to bring high pH and total alkalinity (basic) down to their proper
levels which is determined by the acid demand test. Foundries use alkaline phenolic ester
cure resin sand bonding system which produces sand with high alkalinity which cannot be
dumped without treatment. The resin system cures at a particular pH range, which is why the
alkalinity of the sand needs to be determined. Acid demand is the number of ml of o.1M of
hydrochloric acid (HCl) needed to neutralize the alkali content of the sand.

Sieve Analysis

Sieve analysis is a test procedure which analyses the particle size distribution of the grains.
The sieve analysis of the American Standard for Testing Materials (ASTM) determines the
average finesse number; the size is represented in microns.

The sieve analysis of the British determines the average grain size. This test is important
because it provides foundry men with the average finesse number and a particle size
distribution of the sand. Foundry men will know how coarse or fine the sand as well as the
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different proportions of the particle sizes of the sand. The smaller the finesse numbers of the
American Foundry Society (AFS) the coarser the sand.

We do not want the foundry sand which is too fine, meaning the mould to become less
permeable because it will cause certain casting defects such as blows and pinholes,
simultaneously, we do not want our foundry sand to be too coarse, meaning the mould to
become more permeable because it will cause certain penetration types defects in the casing
and rough castings.

Foundry men aim to achieve or work with the perfect foundry sand which the grains are
rounded with medium to high sphericity, which gives good flowability and permeability with
high strength at low binder addition.

Sand strength

Foundry’s test for sand strength to check the ability of a foundry moulding sand when
producing a mould that will retain its shapeup to the point where the casting solidifies

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Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

In-service training feedback report (month 6)

Name:

Student Number:

Company:

Project based learning Complete incomplete

Detailed explanation of tasks performed during Project based learning

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Supervisor’s Signature

Student’s signature

Date

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