Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study

The need to manufacture a copy of a mechanical part typically arises when a single replacement part is necessary and is out of stock or out of production altogether. For parts with intricate details and associated accuracy requirements, investment casting may be preferred to machining, for size and...

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Main Authors: George-Christopher Vosniakos, Stefanos Michael, Anastasia Vasileiou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
Series:Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/1/2/17
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spelling doaj-e0b3c18344464dde883e09924a85e5592020-11-24T21:15:23ZengMDPI AGJournal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing2504-44942017-11-01121710.3390/jmmp1020017jmmp1020017Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case StudyGeorge-Christopher Vosniakos0Stefanos Michael1Anastasia Vasileiou2School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytehneiou 9, 15780 Athens, GreeceSchool of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Heroon Polytehneiou 9, 15780 Athens, GreeceSchool of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKThe need to manufacture a copy of a mechanical part typically arises when a single replacement part is necessary and is out of stock or out of production altogether. For parts with intricate details and associated accuracy requirements, investment casting may be preferred to machining, for size and detail reasons, or 3D printing, for material reasons. This work applies the digital manufacturing paradigm to one-off vacuum-aided rapid investment casting focusing on the process chain rather than on engineering issues. 3D laser scanning, digital model construction by surface fitting, casting model making by exploiting additive manufacturing, material investigation using scanning electron microscopy, casting simulation exploring process parameter scenarios, as well as the corresponding implementation on a vacuum casting machine are the pertinent interlinked steps and techniques. The added value of this work is that for each process link the important steps and the potential pitfalls are analyzed in detail using as an example a cylinder liner from a model car engine. Quality of the result was quite acceptable, the main benefit of the streamlined approach being that “right-first-time” parts can be achieved.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/1/2/17investment castingone-off manufacturing3D scanningsurface reconstructioncasting simulationadditive manufacturingdigital manufacturingprocess chain
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author George-Christopher Vosniakos
Stefanos Michael
Anastasia Vasileiou
spellingShingle George-Christopher Vosniakos
Stefanos Michael
Anastasia Vasileiou
Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
investment casting
one-off manufacturing
3D scanning
surface reconstruction
casting simulation
additive manufacturing
digital manufacturing
process chain
author_facet George-Christopher Vosniakos
Stefanos Michael
Anastasia Vasileiou
author_sort George-Christopher Vosniakos
title Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
title_short Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
title_full Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
title_fullStr Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Digital Manufacturing Process Chain for One-Off Replacement Parts: A Precision Casting Case Study
title_sort digital manufacturing process chain for one-off replacement parts: a precision casting case study
publisher MDPI AG
series Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing
issn 2504-4494
publishDate 2017-11-01
description The need to manufacture a copy of a mechanical part typically arises when a single replacement part is necessary and is out of stock or out of production altogether. For parts with intricate details and associated accuracy requirements, investment casting may be preferred to machining, for size and detail reasons, or 3D printing, for material reasons. This work applies the digital manufacturing paradigm to one-off vacuum-aided rapid investment casting focusing on the process chain rather than on engineering issues. 3D laser scanning, digital model construction by surface fitting, casting model making by exploiting additive manufacturing, material investigation using scanning electron microscopy, casting simulation exploring process parameter scenarios, as well as the corresponding implementation on a vacuum casting machine are the pertinent interlinked steps and techniques. The added value of this work is that for each process link the important steps and the potential pitfalls are analyzed in detail using as an example a cylinder liner from a model car engine. Quality of the result was quite acceptable, the main benefit of the streamlined approach being that “right-first-time” parts can be achieved.
topic investment casting
one-off manufacturing
3D scanning
surface reconstruction
casting simulation
additive manufacturing
digital manufacturing
process chain
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4494/1/2/17
work_keys_str_mv AT georgechristophervosniakos digitalmanufacturingprocesschainforoneoffreplacementpartsaprecisioncastingcasestudy
AT stefanosmichael digitalmanufacturingprocesschainforoneoffreplacementpartsaprecisioncastingcasestudy
AT anastasiavasileiou digitalmanufacturingprocesschainforoneoffreplacementpartsaprecisioncastingcasestudy
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