Bridging additive manufacturing and sand casting

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As innovative additive manufacturing technologies become available, the bridging between traditional**manufacturing technologies can become problematic. With binder jetting additive manufacturing, sand can be**placed down one layer at a time followed by printing a two-dimensional image on top of the layer. The printing**liquid binds the sand grains together and the process repeats until a three-dimensional object is fabricated.**Binder jetting can be used to fabricate sand molds for the metal casting industry, but various process**parameters such as binder saturation, grain size distribution and sand reclamation methods have not been**addressed. Our efforts to reduce the amount of sand waste via examination of reclaimed sand properties are**described, as well. Within this project we systematically study the effects of binder saturation and sand**distribution to observe the quality and homogeneity of 3D-printed molds. An automated mixing system aids in**the fabrication process by allowing for controlled volumes of binding agents and mixing times to be controlled.**Through our efforts, we optimize the most critical binder jetting additive manufacturing printing parameters to**be implemented into the metal casting industry sector, providing a new realm of technology to be utilized by an**important industrial sector.