Green Sand Foundry | WB White Foundry

WB White Foundry - Green Sand Foundry

WB White Foundry is a long established cast iron and aluminium foundry based in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.

WB White Foundry's green sand plant is an integral part of the foundry and engineering facilities. When combined with the multi skilled, professional staff team that consists of pattern makers, mould makers, engineers, fettlers, fabricators, welders and metallurgists, WB White Foundry can manufacture high quality green sand castings to meet customers exacting needs.

What is Green Sand?

Green sand itself is a mixture of sand, clay and water. The presence of water acts to bind the particles of sand and clay together which can then be tightly compacted into the mould. Once formed into a mould, greensand can be used to produce architectural, engineering and ancillary castings.

Green sand is so called because of the presence of moisture in the sand/clay composite.

Green Sand Casting Process

Firstly, as with all castings, a pattern is made. This pattern is usually made from either timber or resin and replicates the required final casting. This is a highly skilled process carried out by pattern makers. WB White Foundry has a team of three full time pattern makers capable of producing patterns for any casting, whether it is for an engineering component or an architectural piece.

Cores are also required. These can be made from a variety of materials. Cores are often very technical and intricate, and form the voids in the mould cavity. These are especially important in engineering components where fluids and / or gases need to pass through the castings, and in the case of valve castings, the fluids or gases need to be stopped, started, or re-directed.

The pattern is then used to make the mould. The composites of sand, clay and water that comes together to form green sand are hard compacted into the pattern boxes. The WB White Foundry green sand plant uses three sizes of boxes to house small to medium sized moulds for castings.

These moulds can then accept the molten metal to form into the final casting.

Problem Solving

The combination of engineers, pattern makers and metallurgists means that customers who require specific products for specific industries, or those who require bespoke or adapted castings can be accommodated. WB White Foundry are capable of working alongside customers to develop engineering solutions to engineering problems.

Finishing and Inspection

As with all castings, WB White green sand facility has an extensive quality control and inspection process that runs throughout the casting and finishing procedures.

WB White Foundry's staff team consists of finishers and fettlers that shot blast the new castings and finish them accordingly. The metallurgist monitors this process and carries out required tests at this stage.

WB White Foundry also has a painting plant to apply oxide primers, fire resistant coatings and wet paint finishes to castings if required.

The packing and distribution facilities ensure that all castings leave the foundry safely, securely and well presented, either on our own transport facilities, via haulage companies or within the pallet network.

Applications for WB White Green Sand Castings

Ideal for batch repetition castings ranging from 0.5kg to 35kg in weight (based on cast iron weight), WB White Foundry uses three different box sizes in the green sand plant:

480mm x 380mm
460mm x 460mm
530mm x 480mm

These sizes offer excellent layout flexibility and efficiency.

Typical Products

WB White Foundry's green sand plant is excellent for all small to medium sized castings:

Pouring Capabilities

WB White Foundry can pour green sand castings in engineering grade cast iron, all grades of aluminium, aluminium alloy, bronze, copper based alloys, gunmetal and zinc-aluminium.

Pouring can be done from either the Cupula Furnace at 3 tonne per hour capacity or from the Morgan Gas Furnace at 160kg per hour capacity.

Cast Iron and the Environment

WB White use 100% recycled steel and iron to manufacture all green sand castings, thus cast iron is 100% recycled and 100% recyclable - it can also be recycled indefinitely with no loss in property. Add to this the fact that iron does not rust in the traditional sense, but oxidises very slowly giving it a very long lifespan, and it is clear why cast iron encompasses many modern requirements as an environmentally sustainable and viable material.

WB White Foundry's manufacturing process is also environmentally responsible. The sand used in the mould making process is either recycled or reclaimed and the manufacture of cast iron gives off iron dust as a by product, which is actually good for green growing plants on land and in the oceans.

WB White Foundry is well within and beyond the emissions targets up to and including 2012.