Study on Selective Laser Sintering of Eucalyptus/PES Blend and Investment Casting Technology

摘要

The paper studies the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) of Eucalyptus/PES blend and the Investment Casting (IC) technology of the forming part. This blend is suitable for being the raw material of SLS, because not only it has low cost, but also it can be produced by SLS to form the parts with high molding precision and mechanical strength after post processing; also the prototype can be used as the investment pattern.Combining the Eucalyptus/PES blend (which is a kind of Wood Plastic Composite, WPC), SLS with IC can reduce the production cost, also shorten the product development and manufacture cycle. Meanwhile it realizes the application of low-cost WPC in precision casting production. Mould making in investment casting is an extremely important procedure, from analyzing and calculating the physical and chemical characters of the prototypes during melting. It is known that WPC parts can be burnt off by the process of low-temperature dewaxing and high-temperature roasting before investment casting. After blowing the ash off by high-pressure air, the precision of the cavity is similar to one using a wax pattern. So for single and batch production, the WPC can be used as the investment pattern of IC technology instead of wax or resin. This paper studies the investment casting technology which is suitable for patterns produced by Selective Laser Sintering of Eucalyptus/PES blend.