3D sand printing for automotive mass production applications

Abstract

Abstract:Additive manufacturing (AM) of metallic products is seen by many to be commercially viable for only small and highly complex components, manufactured with difficult to machine materials using heat sintering process. In the automotive manufacturing sector, metal hard tooling is often required to produce mass produced components, and the tools are typically bespoke, large in size, inflexible and complex. Conventionally these tools have either been machined from solid billets or near-net-shape cast and then machined to get final size. Rapid casting technologies (RCT) use AM 3D sand printing process to manufacture sand mould tools used to create the production tooling. Adopters of this technology can achieve an increasingly agile and robust production process, RCT can also rewrite the design hand book for casting design. The research findings demonstrate that RCT can be successfully applied within the automotive industry, achieving considerable cost and time savings whilst improving quality and product flexibility.Keywords: rapid casting technology; rapid tooling; 3D sand printing; sand casting.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hackney, P.M. and Wooldridge, R. (201X) '3D sand printing for automotive mass production applications', Int. J. Rapid Manufacturing, Vol. XX, No. YY, pp.XXX-XXX.Biographical notes: Philip M. Hackney is a senior member of the Department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering management team, managing several programmes both at Northumbria and Validated programmes at other HEI institutions worldwide. Hackney first started researching rapid prototyping in 1996, with the development of casting tools from the LOM process and later using the ZCast process awarded him a PhD in 2007, with over 30 published papers and a research group of 6 PhD students under his supervision. His current research interests include shop floor scheduling using genetic algorithms, additive manufacturing of polyurethane foams and sand printing of AM.Richard Wooldridge is currently a PT PhD Student at Northumbria University, following completing an MSc in Advanced Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University. He has developed and managed a major automotive Rapid Product Development Centre, at the forefront of commercialisation of industrial applications of AM, for over a decade.This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled [title] presented at [date/year and place where held].

3D Printed (Binder Jetting) Furan Molding and Core Sands—Thermal Deformation, Mechanical and Technological Properties

“…More binder may need to be added to achieve adequate strength. Such conclusions were reached by the authors of [24,27], who clearly indicate that the reason for the inferior surface quality of castings for the production of which 3D-printed cores were used is directly linked to excess binder. The authors of [1,[32][33][34], on the other hand, demonstrated the significant role of correct printing parameter settings, such as printing speed or the pressure of the newly applied sand layer, in reducing core porosity, which plays a decisive role in shaping a technologically important parameter-permeability.…”

“…The manufacture of molds and cores using 3D sand printing is of great interest, as evidenced by the growing number of publications devoted to the subject [23][24][25][26]. One of the most important advantages is the virtually unlimited possibilities regarding the shape of cores, as well as the high precision of printing.…”