Spent Foundry Sand is one of the largest industrial solid wastes generated by foundries in the production of iron and steel components. Currently, millions of tons of molten sands are discarded worldwide. Therefore, this work aims to reuse the Spent Foundry Sand for the production of glass-ceramic materials, since this reuse minimizes the environmental impacts related to its discarding. The Spent Foundry Sand, composed of >60% SiO2, was mixed with limestone and melted at 1500 °C to produce the glass (melting and rapid cooling method). The materials were characterized by X-Ray Fluorescence, X-Ray Diffraction and thermal analysis. The X-Ray Diffraction results of the glass tablets treated at 875, 941 and 1050 °C show that the formed phases are Wollastonite-1A, β-Wollastonite and Akermanite. In summary, it is possible to produce glass-ceramic from Spent Foundry Sand with Wollastonite phase.

Abstract Macusanite is a volcanic glass extracted from the volcanic field Macusani – Peru, formed by the fast cooling of magma. This study shows physical and chemical characterization of Macusanite samples to better understand its molecular structure, elemental composition as well as to investigate the presence of natural inclusions. The characterization of the natural glass can give valuable geological information about the magma composition, the eruption intensity and age of volcanism activity. Moreover, the use of different characterization techniques can help in mineral prospecting. Macusanite was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction/Fluorescence (XRD/XRF), Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The latter suggests the presence of andalusite mineral incorporated in the glass structure, while the Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis indicates the presence of some rich calcium inclusion. Moreover, XRD shows the glass characteristic amorphous band and that the sample is in the glassy stage.