Discrete Multi-Material Selective Laser Sintering (M2 SLS): Development for an Application in Complex Sand Casting Core Arrays

Access full-text files

Date

2000

Authors

Jackson, Brad
Wood, Kris
Beaman, Joseph J.

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

Conventional sand casting processes often take many weeks or months to produce the tooling required for a casting, in particular the fabrication of sand core arrays for hollow features in a casting. SLS is already being applied to produce complex sand core geometries and reduce production times, but a new development of discretely laying down two different materials and removing one after sintering will allow even more complex geometries and drastically decrease the production times of sand cores. Two of the most significant problems in the current use of SLS for sand cores are the mechanical removal of unsintered powder and damage during part breakout. The second discrete material serves as a support medium through the build and fabrication of the sand core and is removed before casting; the sacrificial second material increases green strength and eliminates time consuming post-processing. The development and plan for implementation of the discrete M2 SLS process is presented.

Description

Keywords

LCSH Subject Headings

Citation