Investment Casting Using Ice Patterns -- Solid Mold and Shell Mold Methods
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Scholars' Mine Masters Theses Student Theses and Dissertations Summer 2005 Investment casting using ice patterns -- Solid mold and shell mold methods Harish Jose Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses Part of the Manufacturing Commons Department: Recommended Citation Jose, Harish, "Investment casting using ice patterns -- Solid mold and shell mold methods" (2005). Masters Theses. 3731. https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/masters_theses/3731 This thesis is brought to you by Scholars' Mine, a service of the Missouri S&T Library and Learning Resources. This work is protected by U. S. Copyright Law. Unauthorized use including reproduction for redistribution requires the permission of the copyright holder. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INVESTMENT CASTING USING ICE PATTERNS -SOLID MOLD AND SHELL MOLD METHODS by HARISH JOSE A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ROLLA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING 2005 Approved by Ill PUBLICATION THESIS OPTION This thesis has been prepared in the form of two papers for publication. Pages 6- 29 have been prepared for a possible publication in the Technical Conference and Exposition of Investment Casting Institute and pages 30-46 have been prepared for possible submission in AFS Transactions. IV ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the development and implementation of the investment casting process using ice patterns. The traditional method of the investment casting process involves using wax patterns. Wax patterns tend to expand during the dewaxing process, and this causes stress on the shell wall which can eventually lead to the breaking of the wall. Ice patterns on the other hand shrink when heated. This is a very desirable property for the investment casting process. The process of dewaxing (dewatering) of ice patterns can be achieved by keeping the shells at room temperature, instead of heating the shell in an oven as in the autoclaving process for wax patterns. This makes the process environmentally benign than using wax patterns. The first step in the research was to develop a solid mold method of investment casting. The choice of materials used for making the ceramic molds was difficult since the working environment of the process was well below the freezing point of water. A solid mold investment casting process was developed for ice patterns, and a detailed study of the process capability was done. Ten M08 bolt castings were produced, and the outer diameter and pitch data were collected. The process was successful in reproducing the minute details of the bolt pattern. A shell method for the investment casting process using ice patterns was then developed by doing more studies at the O’Fallon Casting foundry in Missouri. M12 bolt castings were produced by this method to measure the process capability. The shell method of investment casting using ice patterns was more flexible in terms of size of the castings and productivity. V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I extend my sincere appreciation to all the people who made this thesis possible. First and foremost, I thank my advisor and mentor, Dr. Von L. Richards, for all the help he has given me. He has been very considerate and patient. He directed me in the right directions to tackle the problems faced during my research and I thank him from the depth of my heart. I am grateful to Dr. Ming C. Leu for taking me under his wing and for all his encouragement. I am also grateful to Dr. Ronald Kohser and Dr. Stephen Raper for all their assistance and the time spent in helping me to complete my thesis and for serving on my thesis committee. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Science Foundation grants (DMI-0128313, DMI-0140625 and DMI-0321712). My deepest gratitude goes to Ross Laurent, Tim Hill, and Vince Gimeno of O’Fallon Casting and my project mate, Qingbin Liu, a post doctoral fellow at the University of Missouri - Rolla, for helping me through this research and making this a good learning experience. A special note of thanks goes to Travis Hartman and Dee Ann for helping me with the experiments at the beginning of the research. I also thank Dr. Rosita Moore for her editorial assistance. I also want to add a note of thanks to the Malayali Community at the University of Missouri - Rolla. Finally, I thank my parents, Prof. V. P. Jose and Prof. Annie Jose; my brother, Harry Jose, and my sister-in-law, Manju Harry; and my fiancee, Rebecca Willard, for being there for me when I needed them the most. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................................v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS................................................................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................x SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 PAPER 1. SOLID MOLD INVESTMENT CASTING PROCESS USING ICE PATTERNS ...6 ABSTRACT...................................................................................... ..............................6 1.1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................6 1.2. MOLD MATERIALS SELECTION...................................................................... 7 1.2.1. Gelling of Slurry.......................................................................................... 8 1.2.2. Optimum Recipe for the M olds...................................................................8 1.3. MOLD CRACKING................................................................................................ 8 1.3.1. Care of the Mold Materials........................................................................10 1.3.2. Fibrous Composite Mixture.......................................................................10 1.4. PROCEDURE FOR INVESTMENT CASTING USING ICE PATTERNS....11 1.4.1. Making the Ice-tree.....................................................................................11 1.4.2. Making the Mold........................................................................................ 11 1.4.3. Preparing the Mold for Casting..................................................................12 1.4.4. Casting.........................................................................................................12 1.5. CASTINGS MADE AND DEFECTS...................................................................12 1.5.1. Air-bubble Defects............................................ 13 1.5.2. Extrusion Defects........................................................................................13 1.5.3. Melt Defects................................................................................................13 1.6. STEPS TAKEN TO PREVENT THE DEFECTS...............................................13 1.6.1. Initial Shell Coating Method......................................................................13 1.6.2. Making of First Shell Coating........ ...........................................................14 Vll 1.6.3. Making of Second Shell Coating............................................................... 14 1.6.4. Making of Third Shell Coating.................................................................. 14 1.7. FINAL SHELL COATING METHOD................................................................ 15 1.8. EXPERIMENTAL................................................................................................. 16 1.9. DATA COLLECTION........................................................................................... 16 1.9.1. Outer Diameter........................................................................................... 16 1.9.2. Pitch Data....................................................................................................17 1.10. TOLERANCE CALCULATIONS FOR OUTER DIAMETER........................17 1.11. OUT OF ROUNDNESS...................................................................................... 18 1.12. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS .........................................................................19 1.13. CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................. 19 1.14. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................ 20 1.15. REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 20 1.16. CALCULATIONS AND CHARTS.................................................................... 21 1.17. FIGURES..............................................................................................................23 2. SHELL MOLD INVESTMENT CASTING PROCESS USING ICE PATTERNS.30 ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. 30 2.1. INTRODUCTION............................ 30 2.2. O'FALLON CASTING FOUNDRY..................................................................... 31 2.3. MATERIALS SELECTION..................................................................................32