New Technologies for the Environment: Environmentally Benign Manufacturing - Casting by Design

这个环境新技术探索性研究项目提出了一种新技术，可以在一个步骤中连续铸造熔融金属，以满足设计师的要求。 铸造铝箔，例如，仅在美国，一步之内，每年就可以减少25万吨的二氧化碳排放量。 在减少制造废物方面节省的每公斤铝都转化为耗能的冶炼厂节省的电力。 该技术是基于控制以前无法控制的长度尺度。成功的铸造设计，或'可调'铸造，将使用基板修改来操纵产品质量。 目标是通过在接触区之前施加热梯度来调节衬底。 喷墨打印中的灰度是由相同大小的墨点的间隔和排列产生的。 以大致相同的方式，建议的梯度将通过热点的布置和间隔来建立。激光加热将诱发热点。

This New Technologies for the Environment exploratory research project proposes a novel technology to enable continuous casting of molten metals, in a single step, to the specifications of the designer. To cast aluminum foil, e.g., in a single step, would reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by 250,000 tons per year, in the US alone. Every kilogram of aluminum saved in reducing manufacturing waste translates into electricity saved at the energy-hungry smelter. The technology is based on controlling length scales previously uncontrolled.Successful casting by design, or `tunable' casting, will use substrate modification to manipulate product quality. The goal is to condition the substrate by imposing thermal gradients before the contact zone. Gray-scales in ink-jet printing are produced by the spacing and arrangements of ink dots of the same size. In much the same way, the proposed gradients will be established with arrangements and spacing of hot spots. Laser heating will induce the hot spots.