Experimental Investigation for the Hardness of Castings Produced by Using ZCast Process

Abstract

ZCast direct metal casting process is one of the important techniques of additive manufacturing which is used for printing the shell moulds for casting of non-ferrous materials. In the present work, an attempt was made to experimentally investigate the effect of different control factors on the hardness of castings produced using this ZCast process. Taguchi’s design of experimental method was used to perform the experimentation. Aluminium, brass and copper alloy castings were obtained in three different sizes using 3D printed shell moulds of different wall thicknesses. The obtained results were analysed using signal-to-noise ratio and analysis-of-variance. Analysis showed that the hardness depended on the casting material and 3D printed shell mould wall thickness. Cooling curve analysis and microstructure analysis of casting obtained with mould of different thickness were also performed. Paper revealed the potential suitability of copper, brass and aluminium for producing casting using ZCast process. The present research could provide valuable data of hardness of rapid castings of different material and might confirm the effectiveness and applicability of ZCast process in foundry industry.