Model sand

Model sand is poured into a mold.

As facing sand is molding material referred to, which in the casting mold making directly on the model is applied. These mold parts form the cavity boundary of the casting mold and must therefore have optimal properties for the process of forming the cast body (high temperature resistant, gas permeable). The remaining part of the molding box is then filled with inferior molding material, the filler sand.

This term originates from the past, in which natural sands (clayey quartz sand) were used to make the molds. The term molding sand should be replaced by molding material in today's usage, but is still used in the sense of the use of several (sand) molding material systems and is certainly still used in foundries. One speaks of “standard sand” in foundries that do not make this distinction and produce the complete casting mold with one molding material.