AU699653B2 - Method for use in casting technology - Google Patents

Description

IC_1 i I iC-- i ll-----rarslrs~~ 1

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 Name of Applicant EOS GmbH ELECTRO OPTICAL

SYSTEMS

Actual Inventor(s) DR. HANS LANGER, CHRISTIAN WILKENING, PETER KELLER and DR. FLORIAN WENDT.

9 Address for Service Attorneys GRANT ADAMS COMPANY, Patent Trade Level Santos House 215 Adelaide Street BRISBANE QLD 4000

AUSTRALIA

Mark 9 9 994 49 6 Invention Title METHOD FOR USE IN CASTING

TECHNOLOGY

The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to us.

4, -la METHOD FOR USE IN CASTING TECHNOLOGY The invention relates to a method for the rapid production of dead molds and cores for the casting practice without using master molding tools.

There are conventional methods for the rapid production of three-dimensional, geometrically complex and exact objects even when provided with undercuts, and those methods operate without master molding tools, i.e. without the bodily existing outer and inner shape of the object as positive or negative mold and without machining and cutting operations and generating the desired objects directly from the three-dimensional representation of the geometry existing in the computer, whereby solid, powderous materials or liquid materials are used as base material. Those methods are known as generative manufacturing methods, rapid prototyping RP, solid freeform manufacturing SFM or fast free form fabrication FFFF (Technische Rundschau 83 (1991) pp. 36-43 and 44, pp. 58-61, Materials World, December 1993, pp. 656-658, modern casting October 1993, pp. 25-27).

°The best known method of this kind is called stereolithography (Konstruieren Gieen 17 (1992) 4, pp. 13-19, Technische Rundschau 82 (1991) 11, pp. 40/41, Automobil- Produktion August 1992, pp. 102/104, Laser-Praxis May 1992, pp. LS58/LS59).

These methods allow to produce prototypes, sample parts etc. of various resins, coated paper as well as wax.

0 Various materials are suitable for use with objects produced therefrom as lost molds in fine casting processes so that consequently cast parts can be produced by fine casting without using a master molding tool. It is further known that metallic or ceramic objects can be directly produced withopt master molding tools by the selective laser sintering SLS method (Int. J. of Powder Metallurgy 28 21 I I -rc_ 2 (1992) 4, pp. 369-381, Metallurgical Transactions A 24/1993, pp. 757-759).

A method known as selective laser sintering is disclosed in DE 43 00 478 Cl. Using this method three-dimensional objects can be produced by successive solidification of individual layers of the object to be formed of powdery solidifiable material under the influence of laser radiation on each layer at the places corresponding to the object. It is known to produce three-dimensional objects by laser sintering of metal or ceramic powder.

The powders used in the selective laser sintering method are of ceramic type consisting of two components A and B and the bonding between the particles is made by ceramic bonding, i.e. a chemical reaction between the components of the powder.

It is known to use alumina in connection with ammonia dihydrogen phosphate or fluorophosphateglass powder as bonding substance, whereby the used one of the latter two substances is molten into a glass phase by laser irradiation, the granulated alumina is infiltrated and the bonding having a defined green strength is obtained by congelation.

:4oo Thereafter the obtained body is exposed to a temperature of S"o above 800 degrees Celsius for several hours outside of the o0 selective laser sintering plant, whereby both components 600 25 finally react to produce a ceramic bonding having high density, strength, hardness and melting temperature (baking o°o or firing process). The two components can be mixed (Fig. 1) or one component is coated by the other component (Fig. in any case a ceramically bonded body is obtained 30 after the baking process. It is a typical characteristic of all so far known embodiments of this process that the component A which does not melt initially in the selective "oo laser sintering device is incorporated into the chemical o •reaction occurring in the baking process which results in the ceramic body C. A further typical characteristic are the high temperatures and long baking periods necessary and the proposed use of the generated ceramic body as a molding ._1

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3 shell or core for the fine casting process. Also when using other materials a uniform ceramic part is produced.

(3rd Int. Conf. on Rapid Prototyping at the University of Dayton, Conf. Proceedings, Dayton, Ohio, 1992, pp.

73-77; Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium Proceedings, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, 1991, pp. 195-205, 205-212, and 1992, pp. 44-53, 63-71, 124-130, 141-146; US- Patents No. 5,156,697, 5,147,587, 4,944,817, European Patent Application No. 0,416,852 A2).

The most common application of the selective laser sintering method, namely the sintering of resin powders by surface melting and baking of the particles, shall not be explained in detail, because the objects produced thereby can not be applied directly, i.e. as lost molds or cores, in a sand casting method. Moreover, the known treatment of wax powders is not discussed, because the objects produced thereby are suitable only for use as lost molds (positives) in fine casting methods.

(US-Patents No. 5,155,324, 5,053,090, 5.076,869, 5,132,143, 5,017,753, 4,863,538, International Patent Application PCT/US87/02635 (Internat. Publ. No.

W088/02677)).

t In the case of sintered metallic powders the metallic particles are coated (Fig. 2) or mixed (Fig. 1) with poly- 1' 25 meric binders such as epoxy resins so that the provisional bonding for obtaining the green strength of the objects is made by this polymeric binder. During the irradiation of the material in the selective laser sintering device the 4 solidification is only by superficial melting of the rolyoo 30 mer, infiltration of the metal/ceramic particles and sub- 2 r sequent pasting of the particles-when cooling (Fig. No chemical reaction takes place. Thereafter and outside of •J °the selective laser sintering device the polymeric binder is expelled by heat treatment, whereby the metallic partidcles sinter together at considerably higher temperatures (Fig. Thereupon the body which is still porous can be infiltrated by low melting secondary metal D in order to I- C- I 4 obtain the final density and strength. The same principle method is also described for ceramic powders.

(Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium Proceedings, University of Texas at Austin, as above).

Further, intermetallic bonds are described above) which require more powerful lasers and therefore a higher input power for their production. The use of thus produced metallic and ceramic parts as lost molds and cores in sand casting is not possible.

It is further known that ceramic molds for the fine casting methods can also be produced according to the socalled direct shell production casting by selective solidification of ceramic powders by means of a silicate binder extruded from a movable nozzle (modern casting March 1993, pp. 55 and August 1993, pp. 30/31, Plastics World February 1993, p. 23). This is a chemical reaction with the result of a ceramic bond which is made selective by only at the desired places adding the binder component B to the basic component A which is applied on the entire surface. Again, it is not possible produce lost cores and molds for the sand casting method in this manner.

o It is further known to use fusable particles which can be applied layerwise, in analogy to the selective laser 64| 0 sintering process, fused in each layer corresponding to the ::o~o i 25 contour of the part to be produced by using a laser and by sintering form the part to be produced. The fusable partides may consist of resin, resin-coated sand or fusable I sand particles. In the latter case the laser must be powerful enough to melt sand. It is not known that correspon- 0060 30 dingly produced objects can be used as lost molds and cores :in sand casting metals (US-Patent No. 4,247,508).

It is unknown to produce lost molds and cores suitable for casting processes out of materials other than ceramic ij" materials by means of generative manufacturing methods without using master molds. Hence, the casting application 1Of all such molds and cores produced without use of master molding tools is limited to fine casting and no rapid molding method operating without master molding tools (molds and core boxes) is available for the widely used sand casting method.

It is known that warm or hot curing molding substances can be used for producing cores and molds for the casting industry, whereby the produced cores and molds can be casted using nearly all known casting materials. However, so far these molding substances can only be processed using master molding tools such as model devices and core boxes which are entirely made of metal (Flemming/Tilch: Formstoffe und Formverfahren, Dt.

Verl. f. Grundstoffind. Leipzig/Stuttgart, 1st .o Edition 1993, pp. 333-367, see also p. 105 et seq.).

Disregarding exceptions of applications with 15 downward tendency (core baking process, see above pp.

333-338) this is a process with chemically curing binder 9 systems, whereby the chemical curing reaction is initiated and driven by external heat supply. The mold base substance A which does not participate in the curing reaction and is chemically inert may be mixed a (Fig. 1) or coated (Fig. 2) with the chemically reacting binder B.

All substances used in the casting practice as molding material are suitable, namely silica sand (in mineral form as low quartz, high quartz, cristobalite or tridymite or as amorphous quart), zirconic sand, olivine sand, chromite sand or carbon sand, chamotte or corundum. The mold base substance may be powdery, granular or granulated and may consist of round, irregularly formed or cracked particles. Further, the AL fsubstance may be new or obtained from used mold material C ~B 3 by regeneration or simple re-use. It may have a very narrow or wide grain size distribution, i.e. its grain characteristics correspond to a synthetic single grain sand or a mixture of various corn sizes as existing

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oI «e -4 :1 il1. 4 i i~ i o I 0444 44 0 S0 6 in natural deposits. It is possible to mix several of the above-mentioned substances to a mold base substance.

Various organic binders are used as binders for the warm or hot curing methods. Suitable are phenolic resins (novolakes or resoles), furane resins, urea resins, amino resins, urea formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol-urea formaldehyde resins, phenolic modified furane resins, phenole formaldehyde resins or furfur alcohol phenole formaldehyde resins. Curing by heat supply is also possible for molding substance systems comprising epoxy resin binders and acrylic resin binders; however, for reasons of productivity these binders are presently processed mostly by gas curing (sulfur dioxide). The selection of the binder thereby depends from the characteristics of the casting material and the cast part as well as from the quality, process, price and productivity requirements. Subject to these requirements one or more admixtures according to claim 19 may be necessary when required by the particular application. Depending on the processing method and the available instrumentation as well as on the particular application the binder may be liquid, solid, granular or powdery, modified and/or dissolved before the coating or mixing process.

The curing process and therefore solidification of the molding materials consisting of the molding base substance and the binder system is made by chemical reaction of the binder system. The molding base substance (with a po-tion of about 85-99 mass of the entire molding material) does not participate iin this chemical reaction. The underlying curing reaction is the polycondensation by external heat supply of the resins which are precondensed to different degrees whereby highly three-dimensional cross-linked makro molecules are formed which give the cohesive strength of the now solidified molding material including the molding base substance component A. This polycondensation reaction is irreversible and the binder component E (Fig. 7) thus obtained has characteristics which chemically differ from 0 0 :1 (0 7 those of the original form B (Fig. 1 and Fig. whereas the mold base substance component A did not participate in the reaction and is unaltered.

One of the best known hot curing forming processes for use in the casting practice is the shell mold casting process according to Croning, as described in Meyers Lexikon Technik und exakte Naturwissenschaften, vol. 2, Bibliographisches Institut Ag, Mannheim 1970, p. 1150 et seq.

which serves to produce molds and cores, whereby resi coated, dry and pourable molding substances are cured on or in a heated master molding tool.

In this process shell-shaped molds having an essentially uniform thickness, so-called shells, are produced, with tie aid of modeling devices, and respective two such shells are combined to a casting mold for the casting. The model parts made of metal and mounted on a so-called model plate of metal are preheated through the plate up to 200 to 400 °C and the dry pourable mold substance (consisting of mold base substance coated with the binder system) is poured onto the model plate. After the start and progress of the above described chemical curing reaction (polycon- S densation to a defined degree of cross-linking) in the molding material effected by the heat supplied from the model plate and introduced into the bulk of molding sub- 25 stance up to a defined depth which is proportional to the time available for the heat conduction, the surplus mold 4S material is poured off and the remaining layer of molding material (the shell) is finally cured under additional heat supply to the back side (for example by means of gas s"V 30 burners), whereupon the shell half is removed from the 0 model device. According to the same principle (hollow) shell cores may be produced whereby the heat input is from the core box through the outer contour and the uncured molding material remaining in the interior is poured out.

Subsequently the two shell halves as -ell as additional cores, if necessary, are combined to the casting mold, if desired pasted or clamped together and/or back-filled and -erq 8 are ready for casting. During the casting process the resin is burnt end thereafter the sand may be easily removed from the cast part.

A further known sand casting process is the flask mold process described in the above-mentioned document.

Usually the molds for complex sand casting parts consist of two shell mold halves and multipart mold boxes having one or several cores placed therein. Each one of those components of the mold must have a simple shape so that it may be formed out (removed) from its core box or lifted off from its model plate after its production. This compulsion to simplification increases the number of cores required. For the production of complex cast parts, for example cylinder heads for motors, between five and twenty single cores are required which are either individually placed into the two mold boxes or previously combined to a core pack.

The known process has the following disadvantages: 1. At least one two-piece core box must be produced for each core, which is extremely time and labor consuming in particular at the prototype stage. A heatable model plate is required for the shell molds.

a o4, 2. Each joint between the cores or between the shell mold and the core has tolerances so that the overall pre- 25 cision of the arrangement is not sufficient for the production of precision cast parts.

The constructional design of the joints or core supports for defining the position of each core forms an additional expense.

30 The chemical reaction taking place in the shell mold casting process will be explained in more detail for the example of the group of warm or hot curing mold material; modifications of the general basic principle described below may occr for other binder systems, Phenolic resins which are mostly of the novolak type are used as binders for shell mold materials. They do already possess a high fraction of cross-linked molecules; ~~--L13~aa~p 9 the cross-linking process which was started when producing the resin and resin-coating the mold base substance was broken off at an early stage. When coating the mold material hexamethylentetramine was admixed which is a carrier of formaldehyde and releases the same under the influence of heat. This formaldehyde causes the further curing and cross-linking of the resin under the influence of heat. The resin irreversibly transforms from the original A-resol-state (fusible) through the B-resitol-state (plastic) into the C-resit-state (hardened, not fusible) whereby the last mentioned state is not completely obtained. About 10 to 15 of the resin binder remain in the states A-resol and B-resitol and cause a certain residual plasticity of the molded part which allows a problem-free processing of the mold part in casting practice (for example dressing is still possible immediately after removing the part from the master molding tool). The reaction has, however, proceeded far enough to largely attain the irreversible cured state and the corresponding high strength. Generally a heat treatment is not necessary any 4 more. If such heat treatment is nevertheless carried out 4 4 tn (for a few minutes with temperatures between 150 and roi 250 for example to remove the last bits of gaseous reaction products and water vapor from the mold parts and to thereby avoid gas defects in delicate cast parts, then such an influence of heat does not loosen a reversible bonding connection between the mold substance particles to 1 o l thereby destroy the mold part, but enhances the strength by an even more complete curing in the irreversible C-resit- 30 state.

iThe heat energy required for the curing of the mold substance binders concerned is thereby entered into the .mold material through the master molding tool (a model when producing an outer mold; a core box when producing a core) 5....heated up to a temperature of about 200-400 degrees Celsius (dependent on the type of binder and the geometry of the mold part). This heat entry occurs by heat conduction from ua*r-- I cl*~La~ 10 outside into the depth of the mold material. Due to the relatively low heat conductivity of most mold basic substances this heat conduction is a time consuming process which influences the productivity of the process on the one hand and the convenient adjustment of the characteristics of the mold material on the other hand. So a defined residence time within the master molding tool is necessary to allow the heat to be conducted into the volume of the mold part; during this time period the outer shell of the mold part which is directly adjacent to the heat emitting core box and thereby exposed to the highest heating effect must not burn. The reactivity of the mold material must be adjusted correspondingly which always means a compromise between the properties of the mold material and the process parameters. Caused by the above-mentioned temperatures of the master molding tool and the heating thereof e.g. by means of a direct gas flame only tools made entirely of metal (mostly high-tensile steels) are possible.

Because of the good properties of the cast parts, such as high dimensional accuracy, constant quality and good Ssurface quality, to be obtained with warm or hot curing mold materials these materials are widely used amongst the processes for producing molds and cores for superior cast parts of high quality, in particular when producing cast parts for the automotive industry, the construction of vehicles, the hydraulic industry and the mechanical engineering. This refers to aluminum and cast iron alloys as i well as to steel casting. However, all foundries working with those mold materials are faced with the problem that 30 component parts, prototypes, small series, samples etc.

ordered by a customer can only be produced at high costs and time expense, because in every individual case a master molding tool (model and/or core box) consisting entirely of metal must be produced. Cheaper methods of model construction -(wood or epilox models) are dropped because of the hot processing of those mold materials, and a manufacture of the sample parts with other mold materials in cheaper 11 modeling devices would no longer allow a comparison between those sample parts and the later industrial scale manufacture with hot curing mold materials as far as quality parameters of the produced cast parts are concerned. Thus, the costs and preparatory times connected with full metal tools put the foundries working with warm and hot curing mold materials at a strong disadvantage against other mold processes of competitors; moreover, they also cause high costs and loss of time within the foundry in the phase of the technological preparation of the industrial scale manufacture whenever several test castings with modified geometries of the casting and feeder system or of the dimensions of the cast parts are required.

It is not appropriate to apply the above-described known methods of rapid mold ard core manufacture in fine casting processes to sand castings for technological reasons. In fact, the cast parts designed for sand casting (irrespective of the casting material) are completely different cast parts as regards size, mass, geometry, complexity (inner contours and therefore core requirements), required dimensional accuracy, surface quality and price The sample parts/prototypes manufactured by fine casting ~methods would have no relation to the later industrial scale manufacture with sand casting and therefore do not .44.

25 serve either to the client (for testing of sample motors etc.) or to the foundry (for the technological preparation r of the later industrial scale manufacture). Models manu- .o factured by other methods of rapid prototyping, such as stereolithography, selective laser sintering of resins, 30 laminated object manufacturing of coated paper are not applicable to warm or hot curing molding processes because of their low temperature resistance and low heat conductivity. There are no further alternatives without the conventional pattern manufacture. It is for this reason that in every foundry in question all pilot tests, sample manufactures etc. are made with the metal patterns corresponding to the later industrial scale manufacture, and the 12 drawbacks regarding costs (of several thousand DM for a simple core box up to e.g. DM 100,000.-- for the tool for producing crank shafts) and time required for producing the master molding tool (ca. 3 weeks for a simple core box up to ca. 12-16 weeks for complex tools e.g. for a cylinder crank case) have to be accepted. In view of increasingly short model cycles and development periods in particular the competitiveness of the casting manufacturing method compared to competing processes is worsened.

It is therefore the object of the claimed invention to provide a molding method for foundries working with sand casting technology with warm and hot curing mold materials, whereby the molding method corresponds technologically to the industrial scale manufacture, but does not require expensive and time-consuming pattern construction, i.e.

master molding tools, and this molding method is adapted for producing sand molds and cores for casting individual parts, prototypes and sample parts and also for technological development work within the foundry itself. At the same time the assortment profile of those foundries is enlarged from a manufacture of middle-size, large-size and very large-size series, as presently usual, to batch sizes of individual pieces and job-size manufacture, and additional market segments for those high quality cast parts 25 can be opened up. This possibility stands for a drastic acceleration of the development process in the phase of product development, testing, constructional modification and further development in the branches of industry using such cast parts automotive industry).

30 It is the object of the invention to find suitably combinable developments amongst the newly developed, only recently available methods of rapid prototyping and 2.

the conventional and practically proved casting mold materials and to provide a method of manufacturing cast parts of warm curing mold materials whereby a casting mold of any complexity can be produced in a rapid and cost-saving manner.

64 0 96 -o 6 0 00 06 4 9 43 4 4 443 0 6 4 9 6 4

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13 It is the advantage of the process that casting molds of any complexity can be produced without having to previously make pattern parts and core molds. The method is particularly suitable for applications whereby small piece numbers of complex components are required at short notice, as for example when building prototypes in motor development. The construction of core molds and pattern plates with tool construction, the assembly of the cores and the work required for dividing the overall core into conventionally produceable part cores is entirely dropped. In summary a considerable time is saved and at the same time the accuracy of the overall mold is increased.

Further features and advantages of the invention will result from the description of embodiments with reference to the figures. In the figures: Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show the mold material system consisting of mold base substance A according to claims 2 and 15, mixed (Fig. 1) or coated (Fig. 2) with the 20 binder system according to claims 4 and 19.

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co* Fig. 3 shows the composite produced when systems according to Fig. 1 or Fig. 2 are processed by selective laser sintering and subsequent firing and, as known from the patent documentation, the component A participates in the chemical reaction manufacture of ceramic shells and cores for fine casting) Fig. 4 shows the preliminary stage of the composite according to Fig. 3 before the firing process. The coherence is obtained merely by sintering (fusing, infiltration, cooling, baking) of the component B without chemical reaction. This composite may also Wt uJsrOC

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13a come into existence as intermediate stage (which is not intended as final product and not claimed) of the claimed invention (the binder component B remains in the A-resol--state or in the B-resitol-state, does not S irreversibly cure to C-resit) .4 4 4 4 4 *4 4 4 4 4 4 *444 4**s 4* 44 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4* 4 4 444444 4 444 44 4 4* 4 44 L-Ub46 1 14 Fig. 5 shows the sintered composite generated from particles of component A after firing and expelling component B in the furnace. Intermediate stage of the so-called secondary metal process known in the literature.

Fig. 6 shows the final stage of this known secondary metal process after infiltration of low melting metal into the sintered composite.

Fig. 7 shows the final stage of the process according to the invention and claimed hereby, whereby an irreversible chemical reaction cures the resin binder component B (to generate state E) and mold base substance component A does not participate therein. A and B are conventional casting materials and E or the entire composite, resp., therefore forms an end product which is known from so far conventionally processing this mold material system and has been proved qualified for casting.

Fig. 8 is a schematic section through an apparatus for carrying out the inventive method.

As shown in Fig. 8, the apparatus for carrying out the method comprises a container 1 being open at its top and having an upper edge la. Within the container 1 there is a support 4 with a substantially plane and horizontal support mooo plate 5 which is arranged parallel to the upper edge la and may be displaced and positioned upwards and downwards in ao ~25 vertical direction by means of a not shown elevation adjustment device.

A not shown device for applying a layer of curable o- molding material 3 onto the support plate 5 and for a smoothening the surface 2 of the applied layer of the o 30 molding material 3 is arranged above the container i.

The casting mold 6 to be formed is arranged on the support plate 5 and is built up by a plurality of respeca. tive layers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d of cured molding material, .whereby ach layer extends parallel to the support plate An irradiation device 7 in the form of an infrared laser delivering a directed light beam 8 is arranged above the container 1. The directed laser beam 8 is deflected by I FF~F~F~F~F~F~F~F~F~F 15 a deflection device 9, for example a rotating mirror, onto the surface 2 of the molding material 3 within the container 1 as deflected beam 10. A control unit 11 controls the deflection device 9 so as to direct the deflected beam 10 onto any desired point of the surface 2 of the molding material 3 within the container 1. The control unit 11 is connected with a computer which delivers the corresponding data for solidifying the layers (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d) of the casting mold 6 to the control unit 11.

The method for producing the casting mold 6 is as follows: initially the geometry of the desired object (the mold or the core) is processed in the computer by means of a 3D-CAD system. Conveniently, the starting point is the construction of a cast part to be produced which is already often provided in digital form by the client.

Thereafter the data of the casting mold 6 to be produced are generated from the produced CAD pattern data by inverting in the computer. Those data obtained by inverting represent a negative of the desired cast part. The cavities of the later cast part, the so-called cores, are also taken into consideration when forming the negative and may thereafter be produced as integrated cores together with the mold shell when producing the casting mold.

In the CAD model of the casting mold to be produced 25 further apertures are provided within the object to be formed in addition to the apertures required by the casting technology in order to facilitate the later removal or pouring-out of the unsolidified material. Those apertures are provided at those places which are best suited for removing the material.

As an example the manufacture of a crank shaft for a combustion engine (passenger vehicle, motor cycle) shall be considered. The amount of shrinkage according to the castmaterial to be used is added to the construction of the raw cast part in the CAD system. Therafter the modifications of the geometry required by the casting technology are made, for example the addition of feeders and of the 00 #000 0 00 00,6 01 *sO oa 0O 0 090

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lr~l 16 complete gate system, until the geometry of the entire configuration comprising cast part and casting system is perfectly described. If the mold to be produced shall be later completed with further prefabricated or purchased parts base plate, runner gate, exothermal feed cap, uncontoured outer parts of the mold etc.; but also cores, chill forms, if desired), those parts have to be left open at this point. The final constructed geometry is then inverted in the CAD system in order to obtain the geometry of the mold or the core to be produced (of the negative of the cast part to be produced or a part thereof corresponding to the outer or inner contour). As no model pattern has to be drawn, lifting slopes are superfluous, whereby the cast parts to be produced are closer to final dimensions and later machining processes at the cast part may be omitted. Further, the vent channels required for discharging the gaseous reaction products generated by decomposition of the molding substance binder may be constructionally provided in the mold part. In certain cases an undi- .0 20 vided mold may be produced, if the unsolidified, pourable 8 *:oe molding material can leave the final mold through larger ee or S•openings which are later closed, e.g. by prefabricated base plates or purchased runner gates. Thus, tolerances and play of and between the form halves may drop and the cast part ee S 25 can be produced in closer geometrical tolerances. This onepiece and therefore substantially more accurate production will be normally used for cores, even if very complex, S" which must conventionally be produced in many single parts to be assembled because of the required removability from their tool.

This geometry of the object or the casting mold 6 to be produced is thereafter decomposed in the computer into layers having a thickness which is adjusted to the grain s2ze of the moliin material to be used twice the average grain size) and transferred to the sintering machine. The molding material is filled into this sintering machine. The workijng room may be uniformly heated to a aa~n~ 3 len~- la~D* i 17temperature a few degrees below the softening temperature or the beginning of the softening interval of the molding material binder according to claim 3 and 8; However, a molding material with room temperature may normally also be used. A layer of molding material corresponding to the adjusted layer thickness is thereafter selectively scanned with the laser through a movable mirror system according to the requirements of the geometry of the cross-section through the mold/the core associated to the respective elevation coordinate, whereby a sufficient temperature is obtained in the irradiated particles of molding material and the binder component (B in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; b in claim 1) of the molding material is cured.

In this method the support plate 5 is first rpositioned within the container 1 so that a distance corresponding exactly to the intended layer thickness exists between the upper side of the support plate 5 and the surface 2 of the 00'° molding material 3 within the container 1. Thereupon a S0 layer of the molding material 3 is applied to the support 20 plate 5. The layer of the molding material 3 on the support *0,s plate 5 is irradiated at predetermined places corresponding to the casting mold 6 by means of the laser beam 8, generated by the irradiation device 7 and controlled :through the deflection device 9 and the control unit 11, 25 whereby the molding material 3 cures and forms a solid layer 6a corresponding to the casting mold. The formation "°of further layers 6b, 6c, 6d is successively made by eo lowering the support plate 5 by an amount corresponding to too*the respective layer thickness, applying molding material 0 30 for each new layer and again irradiating at the places 0 corresponding to the casting mold 6. The layers have a thickness of 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm. The molding sand of a corresponding layer which is not hit by the laser beam is not solidified and serves to support the layers thereabove. The unsolidified molding sand can be reused afterwards.

When irradiating care should be taken that an amount of energy sufficient for initiating the chemical curing 18 reaction (polycondensation, is entered into the molding material to be cured; otherwise the particles of molding material are only reversibly pasted together by superficial sintering which causes destruction of the cast part under later heat action at an external postcuring process in a furnace, but certainly at the second cast) by decomposition of the sintered composite. Such cast parts produced without the proper chemical curing mechanism can not be used in casting.

If for example the above explained shell molding materials on the basis of phenolic resin are irradiated and reacted by means of a laser in the here described process, the energy input necessary for an irreversible curing can be determined by observing the color change of the molding material.

Required is a dark yellow to ochreous/light brown color of the molding material after the irradiation. If the molding material remains light yellow, then the B-resitolstate and the C-resit-state are not reached, the particles 20 are only pasted together and the composite can easily be decomposed under the influence of heat by remelting the resin remained in the A-resol-state. A dark brown color turning into black characterizes a burnt resin binder which is also exempt of binder force. Dark ocher to medium brown indicates a maximum strength (complete curing), but those parts may prove as being too brittle for the hndling pro- S. cesses necessary up to the second casting.

S Thus, by correctly choosing the energy input an irreversible chemical reaction of the binder is initiated and a *t 30 rigid, stable connection between the irradiated particles of molding material and the contacting neighbors is gener- I ated. After irradiating one layer the next layer of molding material is applied and irradiated etc. until the body is finished. At unexposed places the unsolidified molding material remains as a support for the next applied layer of molding material to be cured so that undercuts can be proi duced.

II

19 Contrary to the known conventional processing by means of master molding tools the energy input necessary for the chemical reaction of the warm or hot curing casting molding materials is not made by simultaneous transfer of the energy stored in the heated master molding tool to the molding material within the tool and distribution in the molding material by means of heat conduction, but the energy required for curing the respective irradiated particle of molding material is directly transferred to the particle by the controlled laser beam, absorbed and used for initiating the chemical reaction of +-he binder without requiring heat conduction processes. This pointed selective energy input and the exact control of the laser beam allows the production of even extremely complex cast parts without requiring the previous bodily existence of an image of its geometry (as positive or negative) in the form of a model, pattern or the like; prerequisite for the production of the mold parts is only the geometrical representation as data set within the computer anf the amorphous pourable molding 6 *9 :i. 20 material which chemically cures under the influence of heat according to the here described reaction mechanism, The finished casting mold is removed from the surrounding loose sand bed after termination of the building process. The unsolidified molding sand in the interior of 25 the mold is sucked off, poured out or blown out through the runner gate opening and/or through openings in the mold 6 specially provided for removing the unsolidified sand. At -S the later casting process casting material flows into these openings and is cut off or removed, resp., after cooling.

30 The finished casting mold may be aftertreated, for example by thermal post-curing, for improving the surface quality. The surface quality of the mold/the core cdn be improved by manual post-treatment and applying of coating _layers and the strength can be increased by a thermal aftertreatment. This aftertreatment may consist in postcuring the mold part with hot air in a furnace (at about 150 to 250 degrees Celsius for a few minutes, dependent on 20 the size) or by means of micro waves. It is thereby achieved that the irreversible chemical reaction causing the mold material to cure proceeds as completely as possible and the molding material is cured to the possible final strength.., This means for the phenolic resin shell molding material that the overwhelming majority of the binder is cured into the C-resit-state and only the portions necessary for the plasticity remain in the B-resitolstate.

With particularly thick-walled mold parts problems may occur in that a high energy input is required for curing the parts as completely as possible (if the use thereof requires a particularly high strength, for example in iron casting) and the energy input is for example achieved by 1s multiple irradiation of each layer or by a particularly small distance of the scanning traces. In such a case the energy input may exceptionally be of an order of magnitude .0 which causes a relevant heat conduction within the molding material even into parts thereof which are not intended for "o 20 curing. This heat conducted into the depth of the parts o*'J causes solidifying reactions at undesired places and thereby "growing" of the mold part. This effect can be avoided if in the parts concerned the outer contour line of the cross-section of each layer is irradiated to a partit a 25 cularly high extent so that the binder selectively burns Ii r along this outer contour. Even with sufficient heat conj duction beyond this contour no baking may occur, because the binder at the outer surface of the mold part has irre- 24 trievably lost its binding force.

30 After the aftertreatment processes, such as postcuring, dressing etc., the mold/core is ready for assembly/completing and casting. The mold of the crank shaft example is produced in two parts; dependent on the size both parts may also be produced'Simultaneously whereby a few millimeters of molding material which is not irradiated by the laser must be provided as separating layer.

1 The mold halves may also be cranked if required by the -21 offsets of the counter masses of the crank shaft sixcylinder motor) and already ccontain the ingate, the crossgate and the feed as parts of the casting system. After finishing the mold halves are dressed, provided with fee.d caps, combined, clamped together, provided with an ingate fun'2a1 pasted thereon, evenly placed, back-filled against breaking apart under the influence of the heat of the casting metal, clamped together or inserted into a casting frame or casting box, loaded, if necessary, and are ready for casting. With thE; mold parts produced according to the here described method all further techniques which are not described at this point, but are usual and known when casting into lost molds and/or with lost cores may be applied, those techniques including the aftertreatment of the mold parts, completing the mold parts with accessories necessary for casting, combining to a core package), of inserting into casting boxes, mold receiving frames etco., and of casting itself, in analogy to usual processes for molds a-ad cores produced in conventional manner from warm and hot curing mold materials.

Mold parts which are manufactured in this manner can particularly be used as cores or molds or parts thereof in sand casting and low pressure and gravity die-casting, but are not limited thereto. All known casting materials may be 25 poured into so manufactured mold parts. In the case of casting materials having a low melting temperature, such as e.g. aluminum silicon alloys, a suitable modification of the phenolic resin binder will be selected in order to improve the decomposition of the molding material after 30 casting in the same manner as it is done with the conventional manufacture of mold parts of shell mold material. In analogous manner several of the aggregates mentioned in claim 19 will be added to steel casting alloys when processing the molding material magnetite) in order to avoid burning. It will further be advantageous in many cases to carry out a congealing simulation calculation for designing the casting and feeding system, because very few 4 4 *4 0444 *444 I 4 4 .4 044 0 4 4.

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04 4 *4 4* rJT~- -a 22 empirical casting data will naturally be available for the prototype cast parts to be manufactured. The computational prerequisites required for such simulation calculations are already given by the necessary 3D-CAD construction. The knowledge regarding the best casting and feeding techniques gained thereby may then be applied already to the manufacture of the first cast part, thereby again saving development time.

Depending on the absolute size of the crank shafts 1 up to ca. 3 pieces can simultaneously be produced in one mold. In this example the delivery period for the first cast parts after finishing the design is reduced from about weeks to few days up to about 2 weeks. If modifications of the constructions arise in the course of testing, which is probable, then those modifications can be realized within hours in the CAD system and transposed within a few days into a new cast part whereby the product development periods can be drastically reduced. If the construction is perfect, then a conventional master molding tool is made as before for the pilot production and for the industrialscale production, but it will no longer be necessary to a a modify this tool or even discard it after several modifications.

A warm curing mold material, for example molding sand 25 consisting of silica sand coated with phenolic resin is used as molding material 3. The process of curing the molding material 3 in this method is based on a chemical setting process on the resin coating of the silica grain initiated by the laser beam. This process is basically different from the known sinter process in that it consists in a thermically induced irreversible chemical reaction of the binder system. When selectively curing the molding material the solidification is obtained only by curing the resin. The sand which may form about 90 to 95 of the molding material in no way participates in the chemical reaction occuring in the curing process. It is an advantage over the sand melting described in US 4,247,508 that a -23 considerably lower laser power is required and that problems such as shrinkage and warp of the curing material do practically not occur or are strongly reduced. The reactions occuring within the resin material. are merely initiated by the laser and brought to an end by the thermal aftertreatment so that the result is a complete curing of the resin. When casting the cast part later on the resin burns off and the intact sand can be removed from the cast part.

As shown in Fig. 8 cavities 20 of the future cast part, the so-called cores of the casting mold 6, may be produced with this method simultaneously with the casting mold 6 itself and integrated therein. The conventional placing of the cores into the shell mold is therefore dropped.

An advantage thereof is the higher accuracy compared with the known method in which molding sand is scraped off when inserting or placing the core or the plurality of aaa acores which causes a reduced fitting accuracy.

Since the production of a plurality of individual ann. cores for a complex overall core is omitted, considerable a time is saved when producing prototypes. The manufacture of no a sand mold for example for a prototype of an oil pump a housing for an automotive vehicle by means of laser sintering requires about 30 hours, whereas about 4 weeks must be envisaged for building a model device and core aeon boxes in the known sand casting method.

Modifications of the method are possible. For example, anon sand molds in two pieces can be manufactured which are thereafter combined in the same manner as in the convena tional method. It is further possible to manufacture complex cores in one piece for a~lready existing lost cores or permanent molds which so far required the decomposition into several single cores and the subsequent assembly to a core package. The unsolidified molding sand may also be removed through holes which are later bored through the sand mold.

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24 A possible molding material is also zirconic sand, olivine sand, chromite sand, chamotte, corundum or carbon sand either in pure form or mixed in any proportion with one or several of the other materials and provided with a corresponding suitable binder. Usually the binder is a warm or hot curing resin binder which may be used as coating on the sand as well as in the form of separate particles mixed with the sand. Examples for suitable resins are, besides of the phenolic resin, furane, urea or amino resins, novolakes or resoles, urea formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol urea formaldehydes, phenolic modified furane resins, phenolic formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol phenolic formaldehyde resins, acrylic resins, acrylic modified phenolic resins or polyacrylic resins which each may be liquid, solid, granular or powderous. Also epoxy resins may be used. Epoxy resins are presently used in casting, but are cured by amine gasing. When thermically curing the epoxy resins according to the inventive method, the advantage of imme- I 20 diate curing up to the final strength would be obtained.

A molding material consisting of a metallic or ceramic powder or granulate which is coated by or mixed with one of the above-mentioned casting resins may also be used for manufacturing casting molds or models or even casting dies.

Since different binder materials also have a different 25 absorption capability for electromagnetic radiation, it is an advisable post-treatment to selectively post-cure the casting mold using different wavelengths adapted to the absorptivity of the respective binder material. Post-curing of the casting molds may be made for example by microw0ave c 30 irradiation in a microwave furnace. However, it is also possible to use, for example, several post-curing methods one after the other or simultaneously, for example UV irradiation, microwave irradiation or heating.

The device, for carrying out the ixethod may be any apparatus usable for laser sintering. It is in particular not required to use a container receiving the molding material, but the molding material can be directly layerwise applied to the carrier.

It is summarized that the claimed invention allows a drastic reduction of the development periods in foundries working with sand casting. At the same time the assortment of those foundries is extended to ast single parts in the lower casting mass region. According to the invention this is achieved in that warm or hot curing molding materials which are commonly used in castinC are at selected points and selectively brought to an irreversible chemical curing by means of a laser whereby the molding base substance remains chemically inert and complex cores and molds suitable for casting can be produced without using master molding tools. It must be stated that it is a particular advantage of the invention that all components of the molding material system used have been known and proven in the 064 0 0 coo* *0 be 006.

e0 ao.0 foundries for a long time. Tneir behavior in tne casting process is known so that no additional risks or difficulties are to be expected in this respect when entering the 20 market.

It shall be referred to several further developments of the invention. It is, of course, also possible to r-oat or mix particles of other materials than the molding base substances mentioned in claim 2 or 4, resp., with the binder system according to claims 3, 7, 8 and to cure them by means of a laser as above described. These may also be metal or ceramic particles, whereby the progress over the prior art results from the fact that the chemically inert particles A (Fig. 1 or Fig. 2, resp.) are brought into a composite of particles A and irreversibly cured binder E corresponding to Fig. 7 in an irreversible chemical reaction of the binder system B (by polycondensation) rather than by sintering and/or chemical reaction with participation of particles A themselves. The objects thus produced would be suitable as casting dies in casting applications, but they are not limited thereto.

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26 It is further possible to irradiate the inventive molding base substances as here discussed and mixed or coated with the above-discussed inventive binder systems in a two-dimensional manner by means of a mask rather than in selective manner or in a scanning pattern by means of a laser whereby the same curing mechanism is initiated. Before the irradiation the mask must be prepared by the cross-section of the part to be produced corresponding to the actual elevation coordinate. The energy source should be selected to be suitable with respect to the radiation intensity and wavelength. This embodiment of the invention is particularly suited for job-size manufacture, if the same molding material layer at several building sites existing within the machine is irradiated in succession through the prepared mask before the mask is prepared for the next cross-section.

Claims (7)

1. Method of manufacturing sand molds of warm curing molding material wherein molding sand is used as generating a computer model of the sand mold to be produced; successively solidifying individual superposed layers of said molding sand at respective places j 10 corresponding to the sand mold by action of electromagnetic radiation controlled in correspondence to the computer model; removing unsolidified molding sand from said sand mold after solidification of all layers of said sand 1 15 mold.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in .that the molding sand is a silica sand with a coating of phenolic resin.

3. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 2, characterized in that a casting mold with integrated core is produced.

4. Method according to any one of the claims 1 to 3, characterized in thnt the casting mold is made in one piece.

5. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the casting mold is produced including a runner gate.

6. Method according to any of the claims 1 to characterized in that unsolidified molding material is removed through openings provided in the sand mold after solidification. A t{ -U 28 p.4* e* 4 p p 4 p. S C a. p 0

45.4 4944 9. pp p p p p C CCCI C C' *4 *4* 4 4* *4 4, 7. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a core is separately produced. 8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that a one-piece core for a sand mold is produced. 5 9. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 8, characterized in that laser radiation is used as electromagnetic radiation. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the radiation of an infrared laser is used. 11. Method according to any of the claims 1 to characterized in that the sand mold is thermally post- cured. 12. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the sand mold is post-cured by is irradiation with micro waves. 13. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the openings are generated when generating the computer model of the sand nmold. 14. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the molding sand comprises silica sand, zirconic sand, olivine sand, chromite sand, chamotte, corundum or carbon sand or quartz product, each provided with a suitable warn or hot curable resin binder. 15. Method according to claim 14, characterized in that th,- warm or hot curable resin binder is a resin from the group of furane, urea or amino resins, urea formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol urea formaldehyde resins, phenolic modified furane resins, phenolic formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol phenolic formaldehyde resins, acrylic modified phenolic resins, 29 acrylic resins or polyacrylic resins, each being either in liquid, solid, granulated or powdery form. 16. Method according to claim 14, characterized in that an epoxy resin i's used as resin binder. 17. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 16, characterized in that in solidifying the molding sand a laser initiated chemical setting process occurs in the resin and the sand does not chemically participate in the reaction. 18. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 17, characterised in that a) the molding material consists of a first material which is chemically inert under the action of the electromagnetic radiation and a second material 9 15 which under action of electromagnetic radiation is curable by a chemical process occurring within the ~4 material, and b) the action of the electromagnetic radiation is controlled so that the chemical curing process occurs in the second material and the molding material is thereby solidified. 19. Method according to claim 18, characterized in that the first material a) consists of silica sand, zirconic sand, olivine sand, chromite sand, chamotte, corundum, carbon sand, silica material or any other mineral material, pure or mixed in any proportion with one or a plurality of other materials, either granular, granulated. or comminuted, Method according to the claims 18 or 19, characterized in that the second material consists of k phenolic resins, furane resins, urea resins or amino 1. LU resins, novolakes or resoles, urea formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol urea formaldehyde resins, phenolic modified furane resins, phenolic formaldehyde resins, furfur alcohol phenolic formaldehyde resins, acrylic modified phenolic resins or any other resin which can be thermally initiated, either liquid, solid, granulated or powdery, and may be modified and/or dissolved. 21. Method according to the claims 18 or 19, characterized in that the second material consists of epoxy resin, acrylic resin or polyacrylic resin. 22. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 21, characterized in that the molding material consists of particles of the first material which are coated by the second material. 23. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 22, characterized in that the molding material consists of a mixture of particles of the first material arid particles of the second material. 24. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 23, characterized in that the radiating action is caused 4by tw-isoal laseraio beamh ms which is dfetdt h onso eahslayernorepdn to the crodisetionathepcs of the laye object.o e oidfid 25. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 23, characterized in that the radiatngt aon iscase I_ electromagnetic radiation is in the UV region. 27. Method according to any of the claims 18 to characterized in that the wavelength of the radiation is in the IR region. 28. Method according to any of the claims 17 to 27, characterized in that the irradiation period and/or the intensity of the electromagnetic radiation is selected so that the energy input of the electromagnetic radiation into the molding material to be solidified is sufficient to initiate the chemical curing process in the second material, whereas the first material does not yet react. 29. Method according to claim 28, characterized in 0S00 that the chemical curing process is controlled through 60°8 the color change of the molding material and the irradiation period and/or the intensity is readjusted, o if necessary. Method according to any of the claims 17 to 29, 0 ~characterized in that the object to be produced is a sand mold and a core for a sand mold. a 31. Method according to any one of the claims 19 °oo to 30, characterized in that the first material consists partly or completely of already used, "0 regenerated or non-regenerated material according to claim 18, whereby adhering materials may chemically react with the second material. 32. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 31, characterized in that the solidification is made selectively in an air, oxygen or inert gas atmosphere. 33. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 32, Scharacterized in that a normal pressure, overpressure T 32 an r r Ir r r *r r I r e rr Z rr D rr r or underpressure is selectively used in the solidification. 34. Method according to any of the claims 22 to 33, characterized in that one of cold coating, warm coating, hot coating or melt coating methods is used for the coating. Method according to any of the claims 22 to 34, characterized in that during the processes of mixing the first material with the second material or of coating the first material with the second material one or several aggregates, such as accelerators, acids, iron oxide, separating agents, ammonium salts, hexamethylenetetramine, hexamine, urea, magnetite, hematite, calcium stearate, glycerine, water- or 15 solvents are added. 36. Method according to any of the claims 18 to characterized in that segments, shells, masks or other parts of molds and cores are produced and combined with lost forms, casting dies or cores or parts thereof manufactured using other methods or made of the same or other materials. 37. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 36, characterized in that molds and cores are manufactured selectively either undivided or with one or a plurality of divisions and, in the latter cases, combined. 38. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 32, characterized in that a plurality of partly different molds and cores are manufactured simultaneously. 39. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 38, W characterized in that the manufactured molds and cores C (C C Ci I -I IIC--- I are completed, before the use thereof, with additions required by casting technology and manufactured from the same or other materials in the same or a different manner. 40. Method according to any of the claims 18 to 39, characterized in that the produced molds and cores are provided with coatings before the use thereof. 41. Method according to any of the claims 18 to characterized in that the produced molds and cores are thermally after- treated for improving their strength and their suitability for casting, whereby a more complete curing of the second material is achieved. 42. Method according to any of the claims 1 to 41, characterized in that the molding material is dry and 15 pourable. DATED this Twenty-seventh day of October 1998. *0* a a 4o 0 I a o a tot O 0 4 C. 4 Ca C C EOS GmbH ELECTRO OPTICAL SYSTEMS By their Patent Attorneys FISHER ADAMS KELLY -34 ABSTRACT In a method for manufacturing casting molds from a warm curing molding material the casting mold (6) and/or a core (20) is produced by layerwipe selective solidification of layers of molding material under the action of electromagnetic radiation without previous fabrication of model parts. (Fig. 8) r'niv i t I I