The,debate that ensued when 24 metalcasters and scientists got "together for a meeting two years ago surprised Sarah Joyce, vice president of quality and technology at Badger Mining Corp., Berlin, Wis., and chairperson of the industry sand committee that was hosting the discussion. "It was one of the more lively meetings we've ever had," she said. The discussion was about a seemingly niche topic that amounts to a few pages in a several hundred page textbook: the methylene blue sand test. The procedure is important-it determines the amount of live clay in a metalcaster's sand system, a significant number since some of the clay in any system becomes dead (it can't take on any additional moisture) after repeated use and sacrifices mold strength-but it's only one of six tests experts recommend metalcasters perform on their sand systems on a daily basis.
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