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Surface roughness and dimensional tolerances in A319 alloy samples produced by rapid investment casting process based on fused filament fabrication

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Abstract

Rapid investment casting can reduce cost and lead time and enables the manufacturing of more complex geometries compared to the conventional investment casting process. These advantages are offset by stair-stepping, poor burnout characteristics, and ash residue of 3D printed patterns that have a detrimental impact on surface roughness and dimensional tolerances of castings. In this work, we propose a specimen with eleven surface angles and can be 3D printed without supports to explore the effects of burnout temperature and stair-stepping on the cast surface roughness and tolerances. Patterns are 3D printed from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polylactic acid (PLA), and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) using fused filament fabrication. Three specimens of each material are invested in the ceramic shell, burned out at temperatures of 700, 900, and 1100 °C, and A319 alloy is cast subsequently. The original specimens and their castings are optically scanned to compare their roughness distributions and dimensional tolerances. The surface roughness average (Ra) is found to be evenly distributed for all face angles and burnout temperatures with an average value of 5 μm. Texture aspect ratio parameter (Str) shows that PVB-derived castings retain the as-3D printed surface texture better than ABS. Laser scans show that PVB patterns exert the lowest thermal expansion stress on the ceramic shell, while ABS is the worst case, evident by extensive mold cracking.

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The authors will provide relevant documentation and/or data upon request.

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Not applicable.

Abbreviations

ABS:

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene

FFF:

Fused filament fabrication

IC:

Investment casting

PLA:

Polylactic acid

PVB:

Polyvinyl butyral

Ra:

Roughness average

RIC:

Rapid investment casting

SLA:

Stereolithography apparatus

SLS:

Selective laser sintering

Str:

Texture aspect ratio, area roughness parameter

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. M. Papini for the use of the high-resolution optical surface scanners and software enabling accurate roughness analyses.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), RGPIN-2018–04144.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, M5B2K3, Canada

    Konstantin Fedorov & Kazem Fayazbakhsh

  2. Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, M5B2K3, Canada

    Comondore Ravindran

Authors
  1. Konstantin Fedorov
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  2. Kazem Fayazbakhsh
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  3. Comondore Ravindran
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Contributions

KoF: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. KaF: resources, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. CR: methodology, writing—review and editing, and project administration.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazem Fayazbakhsh.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Fedorov, K., Fayazbakhsh, K. & Ravindran, C. Surface roughness and dimensional tolerances in A319 alloy samples produced by rapid investment casting process based on fused filament fabrication. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 119, 4423–4437 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08644-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-021-08644-5

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