the process consuming one-third of the total casting production in the U.S. As the automobile industry grew the need for increased casting efficiency grew. The increasing demand for castings in the growing car and machine building industry during and after World War I and World War II, stimulated new inventions in mechanization and later automation of the sand casting process technology. There was not one bottleneck to faster casting production but rather several. Improvements were made in molding speed, molding sand preparation, sand mixing, core manufacturing processes, and the slow metal melting rate in cupola furnaces. In 1912, the sand slinger was invented by the American company Beardsley & Piper. In 1912, the first sand mixer with individually mounted revolving plows was marketed by the Simpson Company. In 1915, the first experiments started with bentonite clay instead of simple fire clay as the bonding additive to the molding sand. This increased tremendously the green and dry strength of the molds. In 1918, the first fully automated foundry for fabricating hand grenades for the U.S. Army went into production. In the 1930s the first high-frequency coreless electric furnace was installed in the U.S. In 1943, ductile iron was invented by adding magnesium to the widely used grey iron. In 1940, thermal sand reclamation was applied for molding and core sands. In 1952, the "D-process" was developed for making shell molds with fine, pre-coated sand. In 1953, the hotbox core sand process in which the cores are thermally cured was invented. In 1954, a new core binder—water glass (sodium silicate), hardened with CO2 from ambient air, came out In the 2010s, additive manufacturing began to be applied to sand mold preparation in commercial production; instead of the sand mold being formed via packing sand around a pattern, it is 3D-printed. See also , common sand casting defect (Finland), est. 1881, specialized in sand casting (Germany), 3D printing, References Notes Bibliography External links Sand Molding at Hopewell Furnace (18th-19th century techniques) - U.S. National Park Service (YouTube video) Different Types of Metal Casting Processes Casting (manufacturing) es:Fundición es:Moldeo en arena verde