Continuous production process for 3D printed ceramic foundry filters, suiting all applications

包括航空航天、汽车、制造和建筑在内的许多行业都需要金属部件。因此，2017年英国铸造金属的销售额为18.9亿GB(铸造金属基金会，行业普查)，2019年全球市场为1230亿GB(Grandview Research，2020)。液态金属被浇铸成不同的形状，而且通常是特定的形状，重要的是这些部件没有可能导致灾难性故障的缺陷。过滤金属可以减少缺陷/缺陷，从而将不可用故障的数量降至最低。减少为获得高质量可用产品而制造的组件数量，从而减少与这一高能耗部门相关的能源投入和二氧化碳排放。金属过滤器通常由围绕聚氨酯泡沫塑料形成的陶瓷材料制成，然而，当烧成时，为了去除泡沫并产生过滤器气孔，可能会排放有毒烟雾，并且无法保证孔径大小和重复性。此外，材料烧成时的收缩可能会对气孔大小产生不利影响。铸造过滤器和耗材的领先制造商CAT国际有限公司开发了一种新的陶瓷配方(专利涵盖)和工艺，确保高质量、可重复使用的过滤器用于金属铸造部门(基础行业)。我们将开发一种添加剂制造(3D打印)工艺和专有陶瓷配方(陶瓷材料与有机树脂相结合)，可用于制造过滤器。我们已经开展了初步工作，并寻求进行进一步的工业研究，以优化我们的制造工艺，并根据性能和用户需求对我们的材料进行配方和测试。通过使用我们的新创新工艺，我们寻求提高整个供应链的性能，从而将与有缺陷的部件相关的材料浪费降至最低。这将最大限度地减少能源消耗，因为相同的投入可以产生更多可用的部件，这是更好的液态金属预处理的结果。我们的项目将改善一个使用大量原材料和不断增加的能源的行业的环境绩效。新冠肺炎疫情给该行业带来的变化为我们提供了一个机会，以重建一个更具环境可持续性的行业，以响应英国和全球的优先事项，减少废物，并努力在2050年前实现净零排放。

Metal components are required across many sectors including aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and construction. As such, cast metals in the UK generated sales of £1.89bn in 2017 (Cast Metals Foundation, Industry Census) with a global market of £123Bn in 2019 (Grandview Research, 2020). Liquid metal is cast into different and often specific shapes and it is important these components do not have defects which could lead to catastrophic failure. Filtration of the metal can reduce imperfections/defects which in turn minimises the number of failures that are unusable. Reducing the number of components manufactured to obtain high quality usable products consequently reduces the energy inputs and carbon dioxide emissions associated with this high energy consumption sector.Metal filters are often made from ceramic materials formed around polyurethane foam, however, when fired to remove the foam and create the filter pores, toxic fumes can be emitted and there is no guarantee of pore size and reproducibility. Additionally, shrinkage when materials are fired can be problematic adversely impacting the pore size.CAT International Ltd, a leading manufacturer of foundry filters and consumables, have developed a novel ceramic formulation (covered by a patent) and process that ensure high quality, reproducible filters for use in the metal casting foundry sector (foundation industry). We will develop an Additive Manufacturing (3D printing) process and proprietary ceramic formulation (ceramic materials combined with organic resin) that can be used to fabricate the filters. We have undertaken initial work and seek to carry our further industrial research to optimise our manufacturing process and formulation and test our materials in terms of properties and user needs.By using our new innovative process, we seek to enhance performance throughout the supply chain which will minimise materials wastage associated with defective parts. This will then minimise energy usage where the same inputs can create more usable parts as a result of better liquid metal pre-processing.Our project will improve the environmental performance of a sector that uses high volumes of raw material and increasing amounts of energy. Changes to the sector as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic provide us with a chance to build back a more environmentally sustainable industry in response to UK and global priorities to reduce waste and work towards net zero emissions by 2050\.