Rapid Sand Casting Production

砂型铸造已被用于汽车行业和其他制造业，以生产金属部件，但该工艺一直没有改变，主要是由于缺乏投资，因为铸造厂不想冒险改变他们的传统操作。最近，3D打印系统通过构建砂芯来帮助砂型铸造行业，但OEM目前提供的所有系统都是庞大而昂贵的系统，需要大量的手动后处理。该项目的主要动机是在铸造行业引入急需的重大步骤变革，以符合当今限制性工艺的成本制造几何形状，以前无法实现批量生产。新的机遇表明，使用更少的材料和后处理可以减轻主要部件的重量。该项目的技术挑战是开发一种能够实现快速循环时间的系统，同时保持生产量的成本竞争力。由于海外竞争，英国铸造业逐渐萎缩，劳动力和运营成本较低，往往不利于铸件质量。多年来，英国铸造行业已经适应了利用其铸造专业技术和知识来生产更复杂和高质量/价值的部件。该项目将提供低成本的自动化快速制造能力，能够以最短的交货时间从一次性原型到大规模生产铸造部件。

Sand casting has been used in the automotive industry and other manufacturing sectors to produce metal components, but the process has been unchanged mainly due to a lack of investment since casting Foundries do not want to risk changing their conventional operations.Recently, 3D printing systems have assisted the Sand Casting industry by building sand cores, but all that the OEM's offer at this time are bulky and expensive systems that require a lot of manual post-processing. The main motivation of the project is to introduce a much needed, significant step change in the casting industry, to manufacture geometries, previously non achievable in series production volumes, at a cost that matches today's restrictive processes. The new opportunities show major component weight savings using less material and post processing.The technical challenge of the project is to develop a system which can achieve rapid cycle times whilst remaining cost competitive for production volumes. The UK Foundry industry has gradually diminished as a result of overseas competition with lower labor and operating costs, often to the detriment of casting quality. The UK Foundry industry has therefore adapted, over the years, to specialise using their casting expertise and knowledge in higher complexity and high quality/value components.The project will provide a low cost automated rapid manufacturing capability capable of competitively producing from one off prototype to mass production cast components with minimal lead times.