Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

Growth of rapid prototyping (RP) technologies has proven highly significant in efforts to reduce the production time for a number of casting processes. Lot of research has been done in production of sacrificial sand moulds used in investment casting. This paper systematically presents procedure of producing shell casting using light alloys in ceramic moulds created with three dimensional printing (3DP). The shells are made using special sand provided by Z-Corporation for production of easy and economical shell moulds with creation of 3D printers. Selected part was designed using UNIGRAPHICS modeling software. The moulds using the CAD model were produced with ZCorp 510 RPT machine. An experimental and analytical investigation was conducted to establish the influence of parameters like Layer thickness (Lt), Post curing time (Pc), orientation (O) for printing of shell. Light alloy shell castings using aluminium, zinc and lead were produced with the developed moulds. The effect of other parameters like the shell wall thickness (SWT), weight density (WD) and pouring temperatures (PT) on mechanical characteristics like hardness, dimensional accuracy and international tolerance (IT) grades of castings was also analyzed experimently. The paper concludes feasibility to reduce the shell wall thickness from 12 mm to 2 mm with dimensional accuracy. Consistencies with the permissible range of tolerance grades were achieved. Further at optimised SWT 5 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm, production cost has been reduced by 54.28%, 54.28% and 49.12% and production time has been reduced by 46.05%, 46.28% and 43.42% respectively in comparison to 12mm recommended shell thickness for selected light alloys.

Keywords

Rapid Prototyping; Shell Casting; Three Dimensional Printing (3DP); Layer Thickness; Curing Time; Orientation; Dimensional Accuracy

• P. M Dickens, R Stangroom, M. Greul, B Holmer, KKB Hon, R Hovtun, R Neumann, S Noeken, D Wimpenny, Conversion of RP models to investment castings, Rapid Prototyping Journal, 1995, 1(4), 4-11


• Brian Rooks, Rapid tooling for casting prototypes, Assembly Automation, 2002, 22(1), 40-45.


• JP Kruth, X Wang, T Laoui, L Froyen, Lasers and materials in selective laser sintering, Assembly Automation, 2003, 23(4), 357-371.


• D King, T Tansey Alternative materials for rapid tooling,” J Materials processing Technology, 2002, 121, 313-317


• Y Tang, JYH Fuh, HT Loh, YS Wong, L Lu, Direct laser sintering of silica sand,” Mat. and Design, 2003, 24, 623-629.


• JC Ferreira, NF Albes, Integration of reverse engineering and rapid tooling in foundry technology, J of Materials processing Technology, 2003, 142, 374-382


• JC Ferreira, Manufacturing core-boxes for foundry with rapid tooling technology, J of Materials Processing Technology, 2004, 155-156, 1118-1123


• E. M. Sachs, J. S. Haggerty, M. J. Cima, A. P. Wiliams, Three dimensional printing techniques, United States Patent No. US 005340656, 1994.


• C. K. Chua, Three-dimensional rapid prototyping technologies and key development areas, Computing & Control Engineering Journal, 200- 206, 1994.


• R. Singh, Three dimensional printing for casting applications: A state of art review and future perspectives, Advanced Materials Research, 2010, 83-86, 342-349.


• S. Upcraft, R. Fletcher, The rapid prototyping technologies”, Assembly Automation, 2003, 23(4), 318- 330


• D. G. Gibbons, Rapid Casting Using Laser Sintering Sand Moulds and Cores, Warwick Formula Student- A Case Study;: http://www.imeche.org/NR/rdonlyres/1081D 434E6784961BDB099AB9877AED9/0/greggibbonssi nte ring.pdf, 2007


• R. W. Lewis, M. T. Manzari, D.T. Gethin, Thermal optimisation in the sand casting process, Engineering Computations 3/4 (2001), 392-416.


• J. P. Singh, R. Singh, Comparison of rapid casting solutions for lead and brass alloys using three dimensional printing, Proc. of Institute of Mech. Engg. Part C, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, 2009, 223, 2117-2123.


• M. EuroMold Frankfurt, International Conference: Worldwide Advances in Rapid and High-Performance Tooling, Germany, 2002


• ZCast501 Direct Metal Casting, Design Guide, September 2004, ZCorporation, available at: http://www.zcorp.com


• E. Chirone, S. Tornincasa, Disegno Tecnico Industriale 2, II Capitello, torino, 2004 (in Italian).


• K. P. Karunakaran, Alain Bernard, S. Suryakumar, Lucas Dembinski, Georges Taillandier, Rapid manufacturing of metallic objects", Rapid Prototyping Journal, 2012, 18(4), 264 – 280.


• R. W. Lewis, M. T. Manzari, D. T. Gethin, Thermal optimisation in the sand casting process, Engineering Computations, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wales, UK, 2001, 18(3/4), 392-416