Mold making and Casting products through EnvironMolds, LLC

You couldn’t be more mistaken if you thought water glass – aka sodium silicate – can be used only for sand mold casting or metal mold making. While you may have heard that sodium silicate is often used to create an antique patina on ceramics, not many people know that it works as an excellent high temperature adhesive as well.

Indeed, the binding properties of sodium silicate make it an effective adhesive for bonding and coating applications. All you have to do is apply a thin layer of water glass on the surface or between two materials and let it dry. The liquid will react under acidic conditions and form a hard glassy gel after drying. This functions as a tightly adhering bond that is rigid, resilient, odorless, non-toxic, moisture resistant, non-flammable and resistant to high temperatures. It is also one of the most low-cost adhesives available!

Sodium silicate can be effectively used to bond different materials like metals, concrete, plaster, paper, glass, fiberglass, ceramics, and even refractory materials. Besides this, it works as an effective sealer for plaster and cement, and makes the surfaces where it is applied water repellant as well. It is a cheap and effective sealer for all types of concrete surfaces making them impervious to water and other liquids;think garage, shed and basement floors.

If you are wondering where to source this high temperature adhesive, just turn to EnvironMolds. This leading manufacturer and supplier of all kinds of mold making and casting products and equipment also offers liquid sodium silicate for varied applications like ceramics, metal mold making, concrete and plaster sealing, and adhesives.

Mold making does not necessarily require specialized materials like alginate, clay, ceramic, polyurethane resin, silicone rubber or latex rubber for capturing the details of an object in molds. Even sand can be used to make molds of your choice.

Sand molds are paticulary useful in foundry casting as they can withstand the high temperatures of molten metals. However, regular sand will not do. You need fine grained sand for making sand molds – a 100 mesh is used to strain the sand particles.

This brings us to the question – while the fine sand can be poured into or around an object before being compacted to capture its shape and details, how will the sand particles harden and solidify to form a usable mold?

Well, the compound sodium silicate or water glass is used as a binder to glue the sand particles together.It is added to dry, clean sand and mixed.You can either mix by hand in a small container or use a sand mill for larger quantities. The mixture has to be cured with carbon dioxide gas which will activate the water glass to bind and set the sand.

You can always use ArtMolds Sodium Silicate solution that is available by both pints and gallons. All you need is 3% - 4% by weight. This is a high strength binder and will make the sand molds extremely strong and resilient.

Sand molds are normally used in manufacturing industries for casting metal objects. Molten metal is poured in the sand molds and solidifies to form the final object!