American Colloid Company
Type of Business:
American Colloid Co. mines, processes and distributes bentonite and related products to
industrial and consumer markets worldwide, including metalcasting, well drilling, cat
litter and agriculture.
| Company Profile: American Colloid Company is the world's largest producer and supplier of quality green sand molding materials. What began in 1924 as a small venture in the hills of South Dakota has grown into a truly international organization with production, processing, distribution and marketing facilities spanning the globe. In North America alone, American Colloid operates nine custom blending facilities. |
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A fleet of specialized railcars and a trucking subsidiary owned by American Colloid's parent company, AMCOL International Corp., help ensure just-in-time delivery of American Colloid's variety of essential products to foundries across the continent. During the more than 65 years that American Colloid has developed products for the metalcasting industry, we have dominated in the development of new bentonite uses. Our applications research has led to new, higher-performance clays and more efficient carbons, cellulose products and compounds - all produced individually or blended precisely to customer specifications. Our strategy is to develop technical partnerships with our customers, continuously improving our products for each individual process. To accomplish this goal, we have expanded our mineral reserves as well as upgraded our blended product and specialty sand operations.
At the nucleus of our expanding technical expertise is our technical center in
Arlington Heights, Ill. State-of-the-art instrumentation, coupled with a staff of degreed
researchers and skilled technicans, enables us to offer services ranging from routine
analytical testing to multi-disciplined R&D. On-site laboratories at our production
plants provide facilities for SPC testing, ensuring quality and consistency in our
products.
Product Information:
Volclay®
Wyoming bentonite - a high quality natural sodium bentonite recognized the world over as
the metalcasting standard. It is used extensively for iron and steel casting production
and for nonferrous production where extra duty is required.
Panther Creek®
Southern bentonite - a high quality calcium bentonite produced in Alabama or Mississppi.
It can be blended with Volclay to achieve ideal properties suited to individual foundry
requirements.
Additrol®
a custom additive blend of western and/or southern bentonites which can also include a
variety of carbonaceous products, cereals and starches. Additrol is available from nine
strategically located regional blending plants. It is custom blended to meet the needs of
both ferrous and nonferrous casting producers.
Hevi-Sand®
chromite sand - a highly refractory chrome spinel sand used inthe production of steel,
iron and copper-base alloys. It is especially effective in preventing metal penetration.
It has low thermal expansion with excellent heat transfer ability. Hevi-Sand can be used
with most foundry binders in molds and cores.
Reeli-Klean® and Maxifluxtm
two lines of high performance melt treatments for aluminum, copper, zinc and other
non-ferrous alloys.
Maxolintm
a line of mold and protective coatings.
Maxomettm
a line of alloy tablets for nonferrous melts.
Cast-rite®
carbon sand - a round grain, non-porous carbon sand used for making molds and cores. It
has low thermal expansion to help combat veining. Cast-Rite has high conductivity. It
won't thermally shock and has no sintering point.
Cellflo®
produced from select kiln-dried hardwood and ground to meet metalcasting needs. When added
to sand mixtures, Cellflo improves flow ability of the mixture, improves shakeout and
reduces temper sensitivity.
Recent innovations:
Specialty Sands -- CAST-RITE®Carbon Sand is a man-made
foundry sand consisting of hard, round grains. CAST-RITE is the perfect molding medium for
casting gray, ductile and malleable iron; bronze, aluminum and other nonferrous metals. It
provides extremely low thermal expansion and high resistance to metal penetration. It
accelerates cooling and allows ample permeability, as well as gives castings superior
finish and adaptability to all conventional binders, methods and equipment.
Nonferrous Melt Treatments -- Reeli-Kleen®is a line of advanced multiple purpose melting preparations for aluminum, copper and zinc alloys. Each product in this line has exceptional properties for cleansing and removing impurities from molten nonferrous alloys. Consistent use of ReeliKleen promotes improved casting quality.
Address:
American Colloid Company
1500 W. Shure Drive
Arlington Heights, IL 60004-7803
Contact:
Frank B. Wright, Jr., President of American Colloid Company and Volclay Int'l.
John Maginot, Vice President, International Sales & Transportation
Gary Morrison, Vice President, Industrial Sales
Richard Carriker, Vice President, Operations
Mike Bartol, Group Manager, Metalcasting Sales
Phone: (847) 392-4600
Fax: (847) 506-6199
Additional Company Locations:
American Colloid Co. Ltd., Canada-based mineral processing operation: Wendy Anderson,
Manager
Ashapura Volclay Ltd., India-based mineral processing operation: John Evans, General Manager
Redhill Bentonite Co. Ltd. in Jianping. China-based mineral processing operation: John Evans, Managing Director
Volclay de Mexico, Mexico-based mineral processing operation: Jorge Mihaloglou, Sales Manager
Volclay Ltd., United Kingdom-based processing operation: Tony O'Reilly, Acting Managing Director
Volclay Siam Ltd., Thailand-based mineral processing operation: John Evans, Managing Director
Volclay-Standard Pty. Ltd., Australia-based mineral processing operation: Bill Lewis, Manager