The starting point of the development of a Cold Box process on polyurethane basis was the fact that the machinery heating required in the Hot Box Process was considered to be a substantial disadvantage. Although the development of the CO₂ Process in the early fifties gave an answer to the foundry experts' request to cure cores at room temperature, the limitations of the usage of inorganic binders soon became obvious.

The Cold Box Process proved to be the centre of attention for the first time at the American Foundry Fair in Cleveland / Ohio in 1968 and at the GIFA in Düsseldorf in the same year, especially since both expositions already presented the respective technical equipment.

In Germany, a few aluminum casting companies were the first ones to realize the advantages of the Cold Box Process for the core production. Eventually, the process became attractive to the gray iron- , nodular iron- and steel-casting sector as well.

In the late seventies, the development of a humidity resistant Cold Box System contributed decisively to the possibility of using water based coatings without any problems.

Since a thermally stable Cold Box System was developed in the early nineties, even complicated cores like water jackets and oil galleries for the automotive casting industry - that used to be manufactured in croning or Hot Box - can now be produced without any problems. Furthermore, it was possible, for the first time, to cast cores for series production in nodular iron without any additional coating while achieving excellent casting surface finish.

In 1996, Hüttenes – Albertus introduced a new patented environment-friendly Cold Box System that – compared to classical Cold Box Systems - provides a major reduction of odor emissions during core production, a reduction of benzene, toluene and xylene emissions as well as several other significant technical advantages such as the following:

• Problem-free stripping of cores from the corebox
• Minimization of the resin buildup in the corebox
• Reduction of catalyst consumption
• Productivity increase
• Avoidance of casting defects such as erosions and scabs due to the high thermal resistance of the new Cold Box Systems
• Improvement of the dimensional stability of the castings

These "new systems" combine Cold Box resins and activators that are dissolved in a vegetable oil derived solvent and not in the previously preferred high-boiling aromatic hydrocarbon. The second generation of these new cold box systems is meanwhile available on the market, and offers not only substantial economic advantages, but also good collapsibility properties in aluminum castings.

• The resin is no longer a hazardous material
  1. no labeling required
  2. simple and inexpensive transportation and storage of the resins
• Reduction of phenol and BTX emissions on pouring
• Increase of the solid content and therefore enhanced thermal resistance
• Reduction of the sticking tendency of the molding compound during manufacture
• Viscosity is comparable to conventional cold box resins

The replacement of aromatic solvents by more environmentally acceptable alternatives is by no means complete; this is an objective of further new product development.

The significance of the Cold Box Process can be judged by the fact that on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, over 57% of all series-produced cores are manufactured using this method.

In 1996, HA introduced a new, patented, environmentally compatible Cold Box system to the foundry industry, one offering not only a reduction in odoriferous emissions during core fabrication, a decrease in the "BTX" (benzene,toluene, xylene) levels following pouroff, but also significant technical advantages over classical CB systems in all casting areas.

The new systems represent Cold Box resins and activators in which the high-boiling aromatic hydrocarbons earlier generally used as solvents have been replaced by methyl esters of plant-based oils.