Improving quality and productivity of casting process by using advanced simulation and rapid prototyping technology.

摘要

Metal casting is one of the basic manufacturing processes. Simulating the casting process accurately is very useful to predict the possible design defects of a mold and help in making better mold design, product quality improvement, defects reduction, yield improvement, cost reduction and minimize mold development time. In this research, advanced casting process simulation tools and relevant Rapid Prototyping technology, such as FDM, is used in order to improve the quality of a cast product by producing accurate patterns and near optimized molds. An extensive study of producing a moderately complex casting of a pump impeller is done. Mold design is calculated, simulated and modified to develop an optimized mold in order to avoid expensive hit and trial strategy of streamlining the mold as it is currently being practiced in the industry. Then, pattern making is facilitated by FDM, a modern RP technology. The casting results were validated by testing for dimensional accuracy and integrity of the cast product. The results of this study shows a positive impact on improving the quality and productivity of the casting products, and demonstrate the effectiveness of computerized simulation on optimized mold design in the metal casting industry and its role in improving the quality and dimensional accuracy of the cast product.