2002 (Backfills for previous years) / DB reference years
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Author Áureo Campos Ferreira, Carlos Henrique Ahrens, Fernando Humel Lafratta, Ricardo Borges Gomide, Departamento de Engenharia Mecanica - CIMJECT - PAT Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitario UFSC CP 476 - CEP 88040-900, Florianopolis, SC Brazil; Tel +55-48-331-9387; Fax +55-48-234-1519; Ahrens@cimject.ufsc.br
Source Rapid Prototyping & Manufacturing 2000
Abstract In the investment casting industry wax patterns, normally produced through injection molding using a steel mold, are used to build a ceramic shell for production of metal parts. Rapid prototyping (RP) is a new alternative to produce directly wax patterns or ceramic shells. However, when many parts are required, RP is economically impracticable and high time consuming. In this case, mold inserts can be quickly and directly built in a RP machine, and used to produce small series of thermoplastics parts through injection molding. This article describes how Stereolithography (SL) mold inserts can be used to produce wax investment casting patterns. As the pressures and temperatures on the injection of wax are much lower than thermoplastics, a larger quantity of parts is expected until the tool fails. To carry on the case study, two different patterns were chosen, and for each one, two inserts were manufactured, one made of SL resin and another of steel. The same design was applied for both tools, which includes the use of side actions to eject the parts. A comparison between the steel and SL inserts was performed based on the dimensional accuracy of the injected patterns and the time required to produce both inserts. Due the wax is a fragile material and easily adheres to the inserts' surface, when compared to a thermoplastic, there are some different procedures and recommendations to build the SL inserts, which are discussed in this article, among others. XX