Geometric aspects of the casting process

Manufacturing is the process of converting raw materials into useful products. Among the most important manufacturing processes, casting is a commonly used manufacturing process for plastic and metal objects. The industrial casting process consists of two stages. First, liquid is filled into a cavity formed by two cast parts. After the liquid has hardened, one cast part retracts, carrying the object with it. Afterwards, the object is ejected from the retracted cast part. In both retraction and ejection steps, the cast parts and the object should not be damaged, so that the quality of final object is guaranteed and the cast parts can be reused to produce another object. This mode of production is called ``mass production''. Due to the geometric nature of the casting process, many geometric problems arise in the automation of casting. The problems we address here concern this aspect: Given a 3-dimensional object, is there a cast for it whose parts can be removed after the liquid has solidified? An object for which this is the case is called castable. We consider the castability problem in three different casting models with a two-part cast. In the first casting model, two parts must be removed in opposite directions. There are two cases depending on whether the removal direction is specified in advance or not. The second model is identical to the first casting model, except that the cast machinery has a certain level of uncertainty in its directional movement. In the third model, the two cast parts are to be removed in two given directions and these directions need not be opposite. For all three casting models, we give complete characterizations of castability, and obtain algorithms to verify these conditions for polyhedral parts. In manufacturing, features of an object imply manufacturing information, which facilitates the process of analyzing manufacturability and the automated design of a cast for the object. A small hole or a depression on the boundary of an object, for example, restricts the set of removal directions for which this object is castable, since the portion of the cast in the hole or in the depression must be removed from the object without breaking the object. We define a geometric feature, the cavity, which is related to the castability of objects, and provide algorithms to extract it from objects

Multi-Direction Layered Deposition: An Overview of Process Planning Methodologies

Layered Manufacturing (LM) techniques build a part by adding thin layers of material. In many LM processes overhangs require the deposition of sacrificial supports resulting in an increase in the build time, wastage of material and costly post-processing. This has led to the development of LM systems which can deposit material along multiple directions and eliminate the need for supports. We survey the configurations of available multi-direction deposition systems. An overview of the process planning challenges is presented. Literature on process planning methodologies is reviewed.Mechanical Engineerin

Computing a flattest, undercut-free parting line for a convex polyhedron, with application to mold design

AbstractA parting line for a polyhedron is a closed curve on its surface, which identifies the two halves of the polyhedron for which mold-boxes must be made. A parting line is undercut-free if the two halves that it generates do not contain facets that obstruct the de-molding of the polyhedron. Computing an undercut-free parting line that is as “flat” as possible is an important problem in mold design. In this paper, algorithms are presented to compute such a parting line for a convex polyhedron, based on different flatness criteria

National Metal Casting Research Institute final report. Volume 2, Die casting research

Four subprojects were completed: development and evaluation of die coatings, accelerated die life characterization of die materials, evaluation of fluid flow and solidification modeling programs, selection and characterization of Al-based die casting alloys, and influence of die materials and coatings on die casting quality

The production and evaluation of a pressure die-cast, graphitic, hypereutectic aluminium–silicon alloy

The principal aim of this research was to utilize the newly-developed technology of processing partially solid alloys as a means of dispersing untreated graphite particles in a hypereutectic aluminium–silicon alloy. The optimum conditions for the dispersion and retention of graphite particles in the alloy were evaluated together with the suitability of cold chamber pressure die-casting as a method of producing castings from the alloy composite. The second aim of the research was to obtain information and data on the mechanical and tribological properties of the hypereutectic aluminium-silicon alloy (LM30) containing graphite particles since the presence of graphite was expected to contribute low frictional losses and improved wear resistance to the already exploited properties of excellent corrosion resistance and thermal conductivity. [Continues.

Computer Aided Design of Side Actions for Injection Molding of Complex Parts

Often complex molded parts include undercuts, patches on the part boundaries that are not accessible along the main mold opening directions. Undercuts are molded by incorporating side actions in the molds. Side actions are mold pieces that are removed from the part using translation directions different than the main mold opening direction. However, side actions contribute to mold cost by resulting in an additional manufacturing and assembly cost as well as by increasing the molding cycle time. Therefore, generating shapes of side actions requires solving a complex geometric optimization problem. Different objective functions may be needed depending upon different molding scenarios (e.g., prototyping versus large production runs). Manually designing side actions is a challenging task and requires considerable expertise. Automated design of side actions will significantly reduce mold design lead times. This thesis describes algorithms for generating shapes of side actions to minimize a customizable molding cost function. Given a set of undercut facets on a polyhedral part and the main parting direction, the approach works in the following manner. First, candidate retraction space is computed for every undercut facet. This space represents the candidate set of translation vectors that can be used by the side action to completely disengage from the undercut facet. As the next step, a discrete set of feasible, non-dominated retractions is generated. Then the undercut facets are grouped into undercut regions by performing state space search over such retractions. This search step is performed by minimizing the customizable molding cost function. After identifying the undercut regions that can share a side action, the shapes of individual side actions are computed. The approach presented in this work leads to practically an optimal solution if every connected undercut region on the part requires three or fewer side actions. Results of computational experiments that have been conducted to assess the performance of the algorithms described in the thesis have also been presented. Computational results indicate that the algorithms have acceptable computational performance, are robust enough to handle complex part geometries, and are easy to implement. It is anticipated that the results shown here will provide the foundations for developing fully automated software for designing side actions in injection molding

The Thirteenth Annual Conference YUCOMAT 2011: Programme and the Book of Abstracts

The First Conference on materials science and engineering, including physics, physical chemistry, condensed matter chemistry, and technology in general, was held in September 1995, in Herceg Novi. An initiative to establish Yugoslav Materials Research Society was born at the conference and, similar to other MR societies in the world, the programme was made and objectives determined. The Yugoslav Materials Research Society (Yu-MRS), a nongovernment and non-profit scientific association, was founded in 1997 to promote multidisciplinary goal-oriented research in materials science and engineering. The main task and objective of the Society has been to encourage creativity in materials research and engineering to reach a harmonic coordination between achievements in this field in our country and analogous activities in the world with an aim to include our country into global international projects. Until 2003, Conferences were held every second year and then they grew into Annual Conferences that were traditionally held in Herceg Novi in September of every year. In 2007 Yu-MRS formed two new MRS: MRS-Serbia (official successor of Yu-MRS) and MRS-Montenegro (in founding). In 2008, MRS – Serbia became a member of FEMS (Federation of European Materials Societies)