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Influence of complex structure on the shrinkage of part in investment casting process

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Abstract

Investment casting (IC) is traditionally used to produce high accuracy products, but the products gaining variable cross section, multidimensional, and unconstrained/constrained features make it hard to determine the tooling dimensions. Every individual stage in the investment casting process (ICP) also poses a potential and uncertain threat on the final part dimensions. In this article, a variable cross section, multidimensional and unconstrained/constrained part for IC, is designed and constructed. The dimensions of wax pattern and final casting part are measured by three-dimensional (3-D) laser scanning, and the inner cavity dimensions of the ceramic shell are measured by industrial computerized tomography (ICT). The dimensional changes and the change of shrinkage along with the dimensions in different processes are analyzed. Finally, the exponential relationship between shrinkage and dimension in the whole ICP is concluded, and the mechanisms of the dimensional changes are discussed. The conclusions can be used to guide the dimensional design of the die and the reworking of the wax pattern to reduce the trial-and-error procedures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacture for Thin-walled Structures, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Changhui Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Sun Jin & Xinmin Lai

  3. State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan RD, Minhang District, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Bo He & Fei Li

Authors
  1. Changhui Liu
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  2. Sun Jin
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  3. Xinmin Lai
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  4. Bo He
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  5. Fei Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sun Jin.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Notation

a :

The fitting parameter

A :

The fitting parameter

b :

The fitting parameter

c :

The fitting parameter

D wax :

The diameter of wax pattern

D shell :

The diameter of shell

D casting :

The diameter of casting part

D0:

The inner diameter

D1:

The first external diameter

D2:

The second external diameter

D3:

The third external diameter

D4:

The fourth external diameter

D5:

The fifth external diameter

L die :

The dimensions of die

L wax :

The dimensions of wax pattern

L shell :

The dimensions of final casting part

L casting :

The dimensions of final casting part

S wax :

The shrinkage of wax in the wax injection process

S shell :

The shrinkage of shell in the dewaxing process

S casting :

The shrinkage of casting part in the casting process

S casting ‐ wax :

The shrinkage of the final casting part relative to wax pattern

S total :

The shrinkage of the final casting part relative to die

t :

The fitting parameter

T wax :

The thickness of wax pattern

T shell :

The thickness of shell

T casting :

The thickness of casting part

T1:

The thickness of first step

T2:

The thickness of second step

T3:

The thickness of third step

T4:

The thickness of fourth step

T5:

The thickness of fifth step

y 0 :

The fitting parameter

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Liu, C., Jin, S., Lai, X. et al. Influence of complex structure on the shrinkage of part in investment casting process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 77, 1191–1203 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-014-6523-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-014-6523-y

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