Abstract
Advanced methods for manufacturing high quality parts should be used to ensure the production of competitive products for the world market. Investment casting (IC) is a process where a wax pattern is used as a sacrificial pattern to manufacture high precision casting of solid metal parts. Rapid casting is in turn, a technique that eases the IC process by combining additive manufacturing (AM) technologies with IC. The use of AM technologies to create patterns for new industrial products is a unique opportunity to develop cost-effective methods for producing investment casting parts in a timely manner. Particularly, stereolithography (SLA) based AM is of interest due to its high dimensional accuracy and the smooth surface quality of the printed parts. From the first appearance of commercially available SLA printers in the market, it took a few decades until desktop SLA printers became available to consumers at a reasonable price. Therefore, the aim of this review paper is to analyze the state-of-the-art and applicability of SLA based 3D printing technology in IC manufacturing, as SLA based AM technologies have been gaining enormous popularity in recent times. Other AM techniques in IC are also reviewed for comparison. Moreover, the SLA process parameters, material properties, and current issues are discussed.
Highlights
For thousands of years metal casting has been recognized as one of the main techniques for producing metal goods
The aim of this paper was to review the current status of stereolithography based additive manufacturing (AM) technique in Investment casting (IC) manufacturing
Based on the literature review, it can be concluded that there is solid evidence to consider SLA as a great tool for manufacturing both patterns and tooling, which are the main elements of IC industry
Summary
For thousands of years metal casting has been recognized as one of the main techniques for producing metal goods. Even today, it remains widely used by the industry. Holtzer et al [1] indicated the constantly growing share of the foundry industry as a means of production for metal products. Despite continuous development of other production technologies, the foundry industry remains a significant and constant element of world economies. In 2010 the global production in the foundry industry showed a 44 million ton production of grey iron, whereas the production of nonferrous metals showed 15 million tones, and steel 10 million tones. The advances in such areas such as rapid prototyping (RP) and rapid casting (RC) are of particular importance to ensure competitiveness of the foundry industries
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