PART DESIGN AND TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION FOR RAPID SAND AND INVESTMENT CASTING
Open Access
Author:
Wang, Jiayi
Graduate Program:
Engineering Design
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
November 13, 2017
Committee Members:
Guhaprasanna Manogharan, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Timothy William Simpson, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Sven G Bilen, Committee Member
Keywords:
additive manufacturing 3D Sand Printing material extrusion topology optimization rapid casting sand casting investment casting cast part design
Abstract:
The integration of additive manufacturing into traditional metal casting provides a wide range of rapid casting solutions. One important motive for rapid casting is additive manufacturing’s ability to create highly complex objects without any fixture or tooling requirements. Such advantages provide great design freedom for the geometry of cast metal parts. The objective in this thesis is to explore the part design opportunistic and restrictions of two rapid casting processes: (1) sand casting with 3D Sand Printing-fabricated molds and (2) investment casting using material extrusion–fabricated wax-like patterns. Knowledge-based design guidelines are developed for both of these rapid casting processes through novel integration of topology optimization with design for casting and design for AM principles. For each process, a case study is conducted in which a mechanical metal benchmark is topologically optimized and redesigned following the proposed design rules. The redesigned parts are successfully cast and demonstrate improvements in mechanical performance and weight reduction.
