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QuickCast

Vinay .S

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Overview

Introduction to Investment Casting

Adoption of RP Technologies In Investment Casting

QuickCast Case study Conclusion

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Introduction to Investment Casting

This process of making castings is Often referred to as “lost wax casting” and “Precision Casting”.

It Consists of following stages, Firstly a Master mould in prepared using fusible

alloy preferably Aluminium. Secondly the master mould is filled with wax

pattern This wax pattern is baked with coating of silica,

graphite mixed in water Later the wax is melted away leaving cavity of

ceramic mould where molten metal is poured.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7VIeMHCSOg

Video Presentation on Investment Casting

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Adoption RP technologies in Investment Casting With so much of benefits from Investment

Casting, where does RP technologies fit in?

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The Answer is

“TIME”

“COST”

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Rapid Tooling

Rapid Tooling processes use CAD/CAM techniques to make tools and moulds for product assessment, short production runs and full production.

The term Rapid Tooling (RT) is typically used to describe a process which either uses a Rapid Prototyping (RP) model as a pattern to create a mold quickly or uses the Rapid Prototyping process directly to fabricate a tool for a limited volume of prototypes.

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Types of Rapid Tooling Processes

Rapid Prototyping

Rapid Tooling

QUICKCAST

Indirect Tooling

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Introduction to QuickCast

QuickCast® is a process that allows for the creation of direct shell investment castings using "QuickCast®" Stereolithography (SLA) patterns.

The QuickCast® method allows you to rapidly build highly accurate resin patterns in Stereolithography, bypassing the expensive and time-consuming step of tooling.

QuickCast® facilitates rapid production of small quantities of metal parts in much less time than traditional methods.

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QuickCast Cont..

Instead of the SLA part being completely solid, QuickCast® eliminates 95% of the internal mass of the part.

This is achieved by curing only external surfaces and an internal lattice structure. Holes in the bottom of the part allow uncured resin to drain from the part.

The result is a 65-80% hollow part with an internal beehive or Honeycomb type lattice structure, which gives the part tremendous structural integrity.

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Why Beehive or honey comb structure??

To avoid expansion during burning, provides high structural integrity.

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QuickCast Cont… QuickCast® replaces traditional wax patterns for

investment casting with patterns created in a robust, durable material, without tooling and without delay.

During burnout, the QuickCast® pattern collapses before the ceramic shell can crack. The QuickCast® pattern will burn out in the investment casting process with very little residue.

Less mass yields less ash. The small amount of ash that remains in the cavity can easily be evacuated using suction methods.

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Points to be considered For QuickCast They must be reliable and repeatable. The pattern must be sufficiently accurate to

accommodate normal investment casting problem. The resulting casting must be metallurgically sound. QuickCast patterns must be fully sealed to ensure no

ceramic slurry leaks into the hollow structure Since humidity and temperature can have an adverse

impact on QuickCast patterns, special care must be taken in shipment

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Traditional investment Casting V/S QuickCast Type investment Casting

QuickCast

Traditional

Method

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Formation ofMetal Die

Wax Pattern isPrepared

Wax pattern is Invested with

refractory materials

After InvestmentBaked in autoclave

Molten metal is Poured in ceramic

mould

Post processingTakes place

Individual Cast is Separated

Solid 3D mouldAre created

by SLA Process

These mould are Invested with

Ceramic slurry.

When burnt out in Furnace ceramic mould remains

Molten metal is Poured in ceramic

mould

Post processingAnd

Individual Cast is separated

3 steps combine would

cost 52% total costAnd

16 -20 weeks in time

Adoption of QuickCast reduces Total cost from 52%

to 22% and 6- 8 weeks in time reduction

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Case Study

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Case Study About??

How did Stereolithography (SL) and the QuickCast TM build style provide the winning combination for meeting critical deadlines in AlliedSignal's development of the 731-20 Turbo Fanjet Engine for Lear 45 seated Business Aviation Jet.

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Participants

AlliedSignal Aerospace. ASA 3D systems. Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC)

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Company Profile

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, AlliedSignal Aerospace Company is a leader in the production of propulsion engines for business aviation and regional airlines, with emerging business across a broad front of new military and commercial applications.

The world-class line of turbine propulsion engines built in Phoenix includes turboprop, turbofan, and turboshaft units for commercial and military aircraft, and turbojet engines for expendable military vehicles.

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The Challenge

Meeting a critical deadline to develop a new engine teamed AlliedSignal with 3D Systems’ Stereolithography QuickCast build style to produce a turbo fanjet engine for a Lear 45 Business Aviation Jet.

Metal castings, a major portion of the engine, can take up to eight months to produce.

To shorten the production time of the casting pattern, Allied turned to rapid prototyping (RP) for generation of an impeller compressor shroud engine component.

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Turbo Fanjet engine and LEAR Business plane

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The Challenge Conti..

This part is the static component that provides the seal for the high-pressure compressor in the engine.

Three different designs were required for cold rig, hot rig and first engine to test.

With its very complex geometries, would the part meet its rigorous test requirements?

A cross section in the hack of the compressor shroud made the part very hard to build. Would RP have the ability to produce such a difficult design?

Meeting engine test schedules was critical and budget concerns were at a premium.

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The Process AlliedSignal developed the CAD file for the shroud and

forwarded the file to Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), a foundry located in Portland, Oregon.

PCC then created a CAD solid model of the gating and sent both files, converted to .STL file formats, to the Technology Center, 3D systems

After merging the .STL files, the Tech Center built the shroud, complete with gatings, on their SLA 500 system.

The completed pattern was then sent on to Precision Castparts to produce the metal casting.

The SL gated pattern was processed through flash-fire without autoclave, since there was very little wax to remove.

The end result was a precision shell investment cast metal part produced directly from a SL generated pattern, bypassing the traditional requirements for expensive and time-consuming hard tooling.

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The Tools

• Computervision CADDS 4X software • SLA 500 system • SLA QuickCast build style

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The Results

Faced with rapidly approaching deadlines, two RP processes were applied in tandem through representative service bureaus to build the shroud in efforts to quickly produce accurate castable patterns.

3D Systems’ Technology Center utilized their proprietary QuickCast build style for direct production of investment casting patterns

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The Results..

The QuickCast build style and SL proved to have the edge in the following areas:

• More durable patterns • Improved accuracy • Better surface finish • Larger one-piece patterns

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TIME and MONEY SAVED !!!

Use of QuickCast patterns for casting the nickel-base shroud reduced engine development time for this critical path component, slashing the production casting time by eight to ten weeks. A savings of $50,000 for tooling in the three design iterations was also realized.

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Other RT Processes used in market apart from QuickCast CastForm ® Investment casting pattern Thermojet ® Investment casting pattern ZCorp ® Investment casting pattern Sanders ® Investment casting pattern

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THANK YOU

Any questions ?????

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