Study on Resin-based 3D Printed Product for Spin Casting Mold Making

Abstract

Spin casting (centrifugal rubber mold casting) is well known process to produce castings by utilizing inertia. A vulcanized rubber mold is typically used by spinning it at an optimum speed along its central axis. There are many factors influence the quality of casting product, including the quality of mold, the temperature of molten material, the speed and duration of rotation, as well as the pressure upon the mold. This research aims to investigate the quality of casting product when a resin-based 3D printing is utilized to make a model for vulcanized rubber mold. The model is designed by using CAD software and printed layer by layer by using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) method. Curing process is employed in order to harden the model before placed in the disc-shape silicone rubber. The rubber is then vulcanized so that the mold is formed. Standard edge gate and straight runner are then made to let the molten material flow during casting process. Zinc alloy is used as raw material in the casting process with five variations of rotation speed. Based on the experiment results it is observed that the resin-based 3D printed product can be used as a master model in rubber mold making with some limitations. The resin could not maintain its shape due to the high temperature and pressure during vulcanization process. However, for simple design without any need of very small and detail features, the resin-based 3D printed product still can be used as an alternative.