Investment casting technology, a combination of additive manufacturing technology with casting, is now available on the Jellypipe platform. The technology combines the advantages of both processes and complements the product range. Various metals can be processed with investment casting. The process is particularly suitable when cast-quality surfaces are required and very complex geometries.
In this article you will find the following topics:
The 3D data is printed with a wax printer. Then the printed models are freed from their support structure and bonded to prefabricated superstructures. These are immersed in a special liquid silicate ceramic using a robot and then sanded. This process is repeated with a wide variety of slurry and sanding materials until the required ceramic layer thickness is achieved. Using a steam autoclave, the wax model is now released and the mold shell is fired in the sintering furnace at over 1000°C. The desired alloy can now be melted. Now the desired alloy can be melted and poured into the preheated ceramic shell. After cooling, the shell can be removed mechanically and the castings reworked. Heat treatment for normalizing and or tempering follows for most alloys.
For vehicles, it is crucial that weight can be reduced to be faster and more agile. This real-world example shows the possibilities.
The application shows a bionic wheel carrier design , which was developed to withstand the required loads despite massively less weight. Compared to the conventionally manufactured part using the milling process, it was possible to save 40% in weight. This bionic design can only be produced using the hybrid casting process, i.e. the combination of 3D printing and casting.
The acetabular cup consists of a solid, shell-shaped head with a surface of hundreds of tripods. The tripods are filigree, cross-shaped anchors that later ensure the connection of implant and bone in the body. In the manufacturing process, the acetabular cup was printed with wax and the tripods were glued to the cup by hand. This part of the work had to be done by hand and was therefore very laborious.
3D printing with wax allowed the tripods to be placed with accuracy to the tenth of a millimeter. As a result, the mechanical connection between the tripods and the femoral head is secure. This brings a continuous process and the throughput and personnel costs could be reduced.
The materials listed below are available in the calculator on the Jellypipe Stores. For properties and application areas, please refer to the corresponding material detail pages.
The following tolerances apply to investment casting:
We are looking forward to your inquiry or order. If you have any further questions about investment casting technology or other topics, please do not hesitate to contact us.
PS: Read more blog articles about materials, technologies and how to find the suitable one:To the blog overview page.
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