Foundry Sand & Casting Molds — Asbestos Exposure Crosswalk

What This Equipment Is

A foundry casts molten metal into the shape of a finished part by pouring it into a sand mold. The sand mold is built up from formulations of silica sand combined with binders (clays, oils, resins), parting agents, and additives. From the 1940s through the early 1980s, several foundry product families contained asbestos for specific functional reasons:

  • Mold and core additives — chrysotile fiber added to certain sand mixes for improved hot strength and reduced cracking
  • Core binders — selected binder formulations with asbestos content
  • Mold coatings (“mold washes”) — wash compounds painted onto the sand-mold cavity to control surface finish, sometimes formulated with asbestos
  • Refractory hot-face products — see Refractory Mortar for related material
  • Insulating risers and feeder sleeves — pre-formed asbestos-bearing inserts to keep specific casting sections molten longer (similar function to Hot Tops in steel-ingot work)
  • Asbestos cloth and aprons — high-temperature PPE for foundry workers (see Asbestos Cloth)

Foundries also used asbestos products throughout the melting and pouring areas that aren’t unique to foundry work: refractory linings on cupolas and melting furnaces (see Industrial Furnaces), pipe insulation on steam services, gaskets and packing on auxiliary equipment.

Why Foundry Work Was a Heavy Exposure

Foundry environments are dusty by their nature — handling sand, breaking molds, shake-out of cast parts, and shot-blasting all generate dense mineral dust. Where the sand or core formulations contained asbestos, that dust contained respirable chrysotile.

Shake-out — the post-pour step where the sand mold is broken away from the cooled casting — was the dustiest single foundry activity. Workers tended automated or manual shake-out stations all shift, breathing the airborne fraction of the disrupted mold.

Pattern-shop and core-room work involved making and finishing the sand-and-binder pieces that would be incorporated into the mold; cutting, sanding, and finishing asbestos-bearing cores released fiber at close range.

Manufacturers Named in Foundry-Product Litigation

  • Foseco International — foundry products including riser sleeves and mold additives
  • Hill & Griffith — foundry mold and core products
  • General Refractories — foundry refractory products
  • A.P. Green Refractories — foundry refractory
  • Harbison-Walker Refractories — foundry refractory
  • Johns-Manville — foundry-related asbestos products
  • Combustion Engineering — insulation products

Documented Product References

Images sourced from publicly available product-identification reference materials. Inclusion does not constitute a finding of liability against any company.

Trust Funds That May Apply

  • A.P. Green Industries Asbestos PI Settlement Trust
  • Harbison-Walker Refractories / RHI Asbestos PI Trust
  • General Refractories Asbestos PI Trust
  • Combustion Engineering 524(g) Asbestos PI Trust
  • Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust

Trades Most Exposed at Foundry Work

Molders, core makers, shake-out operators, foundry laborers, pattern-shop workers, melt-shop workers (pouring crews), cupola operators, foundry mechanics and millwrights, and ironworkers on foundry-equipment construction and overhaul.

Jobsites in the Network Documenting Foundry Work

Compiled from publicly filed asbestos litigation, EPA / OSHA / NIOSH records, foundry-industry publications, and academic epidemiology on foundry-worker asbestos exposure cohorts. Product and company references reflect what has been alleged or documented in publicly filed litigation. This page does not constitute a finding of liability against any company. Not legal advice; consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.