Investigations on the suitability of banana peel powder as an alternative additive in synthetic green sand moulding system.

An experimental study focused on the determination of mechanical properties of synthetic green sand system using Nagavali river sand by adding banana peel powder as an additive. Compression strength, shear strength, mould hardness bulk density and permeability are the various properties found in the laboratory following standard testing procedures. Sand aggregate is prepared by mixing the bentonite as binder and banana peel powder as an additive to the silica sand in various amounts. Encouraging results in terms of strength and hardness are obtained by testing the standard sand samples. In fact, the properties exhibited are almost similar to the values obtained by addition of 2% dextrin as an additive to the sand aggregate. Since the banana peel powder can be easily prepared which is most economical in terms of cost compared with dextrin, that can be an alternative additive in preparing the sand moulds to obtain adequate strength and hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]