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Full-Text Articles in Manufacturing
Investment Casting With Ice Patterns Made By Rapid Freeze Prototyping, Wei Zhang, Ming-Chuan Leu, Chao Feng, Rong Ren, Renjie Zhang, Qingping Lu, Jubu Jiang, Yongnian Yan
Investment Casting With Ice Patterns Made By Rapid Freeze Prototyping, Wei Zhang, Ming-Chuan Leu, Chao Feng, Rong Ren, Renjie Zhang, Qingping Lu, Jubu Jiang, Yongnian Yan
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
One of the most promising applications of rapid freeze prototyping (RFP) is making metal parts by investment casting with the built ice parts. The integration of RFP and investment casting allows fast creation of complex net-shape metal parts directly from their CAD models. The advantages of doing so include no part geometric complexity limitation, no experience of parting line design and assembling needed, clean and low-cost of process operation, and good performance. In this paper, we will present our recent study on binder selection, slurry making, ceramic shell making, and the casting results of the metal parts.
Assessment Of Environmental Performance Of Rapid Prototyping And Rapid Tooling Processes, Yanchun Luo, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhiming Ji
Assessment Of Environmental Performance Of Rapid Prototyping And Rapid Tooling Processes, Yanchun Luo, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhiming Ji
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
A method for assessing the environmental performance of solid freeform fabrication (SFF) based rapid prototyping and rapid tooling processes is presented in this paper. In this method of assessment, each process is divided into a number of life stages. The environmental effect of each process stage is analyzed and evaluated based on an environmental index utilizing the Eco-indicators that were compiled by PreConsultants of the Netherlands. The effects of various life stages are then combined to obtain the environmental performance of a process. In the assessment of SFF processes, we consider the material use in the fabrication of a part, …
Shell Cracking In Investment Casting With Laser Stereolithography Patterns, W. L. Yao, Ming-Chuan Leu
Shell Cracking In Investment Casting With Laser Stereolithography Patterns, W. L. Yao, Ming-Chuan Leu
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
This paper presents an investigation of ceramic shell cracking during the burnout process in investment casting with internally webbed laser stereolithography patterns. We hypothesize that shell cracking will occur when the rupture temperature of the ceramic shell is lower than both the glass transition temperature of the pattern material and the web· link buckling temperature. The hypothesis is validated by our experimental observations which confirm the numerical predictions from our finite element analysis. This provides a basis for design of the internal web geometry of a lithography pattern and evaluation of the burnout process with such a pattern. We show …
Rapid Freezing Prototyping With Water, Wei Zhang, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhiming Ji, Yongnian Yan
Rapid Freezing Prototyping With Water, Wei Zhang, Ming-Chuan Leu, Zhiming Ji, Yongnian Yan
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works
Rapid Freezing Prototyping (RFP) with water is a novel solid freeform fabrication technique that can generate three-dimensional ice objects by depositing and rapidly freezing water layer by layer. The support where necessary is made of brine whose. freezing point is lower than. pure water. After building the part, the support can be removed by utilizing the melting temperature difference between brine and water. Preliminary experiments have shown that the ice patterns produced by this technique can be used for design visualization and silicone molding. This paper will present the concept and some experimental results of the RFP process as well …