3-D printable expendable lost foam pattern

Abstract

A lost foam casting pattern that is constructed of a plastic filament, a foaming agent, and a coating. The lost foam casting pattern is printable on a 3-D printer. A 3-D printable material for the creation of a lost foam casting pattern is also disclosed where the material includes 95.0% to 99.75% by weight of a plastic filament combined with 0.25% to 5.00% by weight of a foaming agent. A method for preparing a lost foam casting pattern using the 3-D printable material is further described.

Claims

1. A method for preparing a lost foam casting pattern, the method comprising: modeling a design of the lost foam casting pattern using computer software; uploading the design of the lost foam casting pattern to a 3-D printer; combining a plastic filament with a foaming agent to form a composite filament, wherein the foaming agent is selected from one of: azodicarbonamide, sodium bicarbonate+citric acid, zinc stearate, calcium stearate, 5-phenyltetrazole, and a combination thereof; providing the composite filament to the 3-D printer; heating the composite filament in the 3-D printer; building the design of the lost foam casting pattern into a printed lost foam casting pattern with the 3-D printer; removing the printed lost foam casting pattern from the 3-D printer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of coating the printed lost foam casting pattern with a ceramic coating.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of combining a binding agent with the plastic filament and the foaming agent to form a composite filament.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plastic filament is selected from one of: polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polystyrene, high impact polystyrene, polycarbonate, polycaprolactone, polycarbonate+acrylic-styrene-acrylate, linear low density polyethylene, polyamides/nylons, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, and a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of combining the plastic filament with the foaming agent to form the composite filament comprises combining 95.0% to 99.75% by weight of a plastic filament with 0.25% to 5.00% by weight of a foaming agent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of combining the plastic filament with the foaming agent to form the composite filament comprises combining 97.25% to 99.50% by weight of a plastic filament with 0.50% to 2.50% by weight of a foaming agent.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present disclosure is described with reference to the following FIGURES. The same numbers are used throughout the FIGURES to reference like features and like components.

(2) FIG. 1 is a flow chart demonstrating the steps of a method according to the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(3) In the present disclosure, certain terms have been used for brevity, clarity, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be inferred therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used only for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.

(4) For several decades, rapid prototype printed pattern technology was used in the investment casting industry where a wax-based pattern is 3D printed, shelled, dewaxed, and cast as a traditional investment casting. In this process, this process the term rapid is relative because it takes at least 48 hours to produce an acceptable ceramic shell for the investment casting. To meet production requirements in a challenging environment, applicant developed the use of three dimensional (3-D) printing for a different type of rapid prototyping3-D printing of plastic patterns for the lost foam casting process instead of using conventional polystyrene patterns that were typically created by hand cutting or machining the pattern from a solid block of foam, or by blow molding the patterns. The former is time consuming, while the latter requires an investment in expensive tooling for the blow molding processes. This products and methods of the present application utilize plastic filaments treated with at least one foaming agent to produce a 3-D printed pattern using a 3-D printer that may be rapidly produced in significantly less time than 48 hours. The pattern produced may then be expended during the lost foam casting process in the same manner as traditional lost foam casting patterns.

(5) Multiple 3-D plastic polymer printer filaments were tested for their ability to be cast using the same process as traditional lost foam casting patterns. It was surprisingly discovered that most polymers were unsuitable for this process due to high energy requirements to depolymerize and evaporate the solid material. It was then surprisingly discovered that by adding a foaming agent to the plastic filaments during the 3-D printing process that the density of the printed pattern could be reduced. This resulted in less mass is printed per wall, requiring lower amounts of thermal energy to expend the patterns and resulting in a higher chance of successful filling. The ability to 3D print patterns allows for a degree of design freedom that is usually constrained due to current subtractive manufacturing processes.

(6) A wide range of plastic filaments were tested with and without foaming agent additions to create lost foam casting patterns. Optimal lost foam casting patterns were created using one of the following plastic filaments with the addition of 0.01 to 10% of a foaming agent: polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polystyrene (PS), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polycarbonate (PC), polycaprolactone (PCL), polycarbonate+acrylic-styrene-acrylate (PC/ASA), Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), polyamides/nylons, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or a combination thereof. Preferable plastic filaments for both ease of creating the lost foam casting pattern with the addition of a foaming agent, and for utilizing the pattern effectively in the lost foam casting process to make parts were identified as high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polycarbonate (PC), and polystyrene (PS).

(7) The plastic filaments are treated with the addition of 0.01 to 10% of a foaming agent for optimal performance in the lost foam casting process. Effective foam agents are identified as sodium bicarbonate+citric acid, zinc stearate, calcium stearate, 5-phenyltetrazole, or a combination thereof. It is contemplated that titanium hydride, zinc carbonate, toluenesulfonylhydrazide, oxybisbenzenesulfonylhydrazide, or a combination thereof may also be utilized as a foaming agent. In certain embodiments the foaming agent is added in an amount of 0.25% to 5.00% by weight. In another embodiment, the foaming agents are added in an amount of 0.50% to 2.50% by weight.

(8) When the above noted plastic filaments and foaming agents are used to create a 3-D printable material for the creation of a lost foam casting pattern, the material may be 90.00% to 99.99% by weight of a plastic filament and 0.01% to 10.0% by weight of a foaming agent. In other embodiments, the material is 95.0% to 99.75% by weight of the plastic filament and 0.25% to 5.00% by weight of the foaming agent. In still other embodiments, the material is 97.25% to 99.50% by weight of the plastic filament and 0.50% to 2.50% by weight of the foaming agent.

(9) It was surprisingly found that when one of the preferable plastic filaments was combined with one of the preferable foaming agents in the 3-D printing process at the preferable amount of 0.5% to 2.5% foaming agent by weight to create a lost foam casting pattern, that parts cast with such materials had up to 0.1% dimensional accuracy to a modeled part.

(10) Referring now to FIG. 1, therein is shown a method for preparing a lost foam casting pattern using the material described herein. In step 100, a design of the lost foam casting pattern is modeled using computer software. Typically, computer-aided design (CAD) software is utilized. The software may provide some hint as to the structural integrity you can expect in the finished product and provide optimal dimension for the pattern. Next, in step 120, the design of the lost foam casting pattern is uploaded to a 3-D printer. This may involve converting the CAD drawing to the STL format, as known in the art. Most 3-D printers can use STL files in addition to some proprietary file types. The STL file is sent or copied to the computer that controls the 3-D printer. There, a user can designate the size and orientation for printing.

(11) In step 130, a plastic filament is combined with a foaming agent into a composite filament a plastic filament is provided to the 3-D printer. In certain embodiments, step 140 is included, where a binding agent is combined into the composite filament for binding the pattern to a bed plate. In step 150 the composite filament is provided to the 3-D printer. Individual 3-D printers may have their own requirements for how to prepare for a new print job, including refilling the plastic filaments and foaming agents, binders and other consumables the printer will use. Typically, the plastic filament and the foaming agents are provided to the 3-D printer in a solid state. In step 160, the composite filament is heated by the 3-D printer.

(12) In step 180, the 3-D printer builds the design of the lost foam casting pattern into a printed lost foam casting pattern. the build process is mostly automatic. Each layer is usually about 0.1 to 0.3 mm thick, though it may be thinner or thicker. Depending on the pattern's size and/or geometry, the amount of support material needed, the machine and the materials used, the printer settings (e.g. layer height, print speed, acceleration, nozzle size, wall thickness, infill percentage, infill geometry) this process could take hours or even up to 48 hours to complete.

(13) In step 190, the printed lost foam casting pattern is removed from the 3-D printer. Some amount of post-processing may be necessary for the printed pattern. This could include brushing off any remaining powder or bathing the printed object to remove water-soluble supports. The new patterns may be weak during this step since some materials require time to cure, so caution might be necessary to ensure that it doesn't break or fall apart.

(14) Once the pattern is removed, it may be coated with a conventional ceramic coating in step 200, as is known in the art of lost foam casting. The ceramic coating protects the casting metal from sand surrounding the pattern in the lost foam casting process and allows for gasses to vent while casting. The higher the coating permeability, the better. In certain instances, if the coating permeability is not high enough, the pattern may be directly vented with an unrestricted path (infinitely permeable) for gas to escape in expected areas of gas accumulation. The expected areas of gas accumulation depend o part orientation during casting which is not considered in traditional lost foam casting. Traditionally, part orientation during casting is driven by sand filling constraints. In this instance, 3-D printed pattern orientation is determined first by sand fill, then gas accumulation which can be alleviated by direct venting. Once the pattern is coated, the pattern may be used in conventional lost foam casting methods, such as the methods described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,960,851 and 6,024,157, which are incorporated herein by reference.

(15) In the present description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clarity and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be inferred therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes only and are intended to be broadly construed.