Application of 3-D Drucker–Prager Material Model to Determine Optimal Operating Parameters of Centrifugal Regeneration Device

The process of metal casting indisposable sand molds is associated with the generation of large amounts of waste, mainly used molding and core sands, from which the molds and cores reproducing the external and internal shapes of the castings were made. It is estimated that about 600 kg of waste can come from the production of 1 ton of casting. The main component of the waste is quartz matrix, which after undergoing appropriate reclamation treatments can be recovered and reused in the production process. This article presents the theoretical foundations regarding the existing methods of quartz matrix recovery and an experimentally justified model of the regeneration process occurring in one of the varieties used in the practice of mechanical regenerators. The goal is to improve the quality of regenerated molding sand by means of liberating the sand grain’s surface from the layer of the used binding component. The elastic-plastic material model characterized by the Drucker–Prager yield criterion was used to describe the deformation of the sand layer during treatment performed in a centrifugal regenerator. Conclusions based on the results of numerical calculations, obtained with the use of the software adopting the material point method, enable us to find out how to control the device in a way that ensures a permanent reclamation effect which is independent of the working components that wear out over time.