Sand casting is a common casting process in casting production. Casting is one of the ways of metal processing. It is a metal processing method that the liquid metal is poured into the casting cavity corresponding to the shape of the part, and after it is cooled and solidified, the metal part blank with certain shape, size and performance can be obtained. However, the more complex the structure and shape of the casting, the more troublesome the mold modeling. Rapid prototyping technology makes the difficulty of the forming process independent of the complexity of the physical shape to be formed. Therefore, many modeling tasks of sand mold today need to be completed by 3D printer. This valuable technical feature enables it to adapt to the competitive environment of the contemporary manufacturing market and develop rapidly.
Nowadays, the very popular additive manufacturing technology (often referred to as 3D printing technology) is a breakthrough in manufacturing principle. It does not need any special auxiliary tools, and is not limited by the batch size. It can quickly change from CAD 3D model to 3D solid model, and the product cost is almost independent of the complexity of the parts, especially suitable for the manufacturing of complex parts with fine internal structure; And the manufacturing flexibility is very high. One machine can be used to manufacture parts of various shapes.
Rapid prototyping technology can directly manufacture product samples or molds with only 30%-50% man hours and 20%~35% cost of traditional processing methods. 3D printing prototype has been widely used in the fields of machinery, electronics, automobile, aviation and aerospace. With the improvement of this technology, it has brought a revolution to the manufacturing industry.
As a casting mold, rapid prototyping can be used in sand casting, investment casting, ceramic mold precision casting and gypsum mold precision casting. Direct 3D printing of sand mold eliminates the traditional process model. It is a major change in the traditional casting process to accurately control the accumulation process of molding materials according to the geometric information of the mold CAD model (including process information such as gating system) and directly manufacture the mold.
