Title: Experimental investigations for reducing wall thickness in solder (20-80) lead alloy rapid casting solution of three dimensional printing

Authors: Rupinder Singh, J.P. Singh

Addresses: Faculty of Production Engineering, G.N.D.E. College, Ludhiana – 141006, India. ' Department of Production Engineering, G.N.D.E. College, Ludhiana – 141006, India

Abstract: In this work, three dimensional printing (3DP) technology has been used as rapid shell casting to make the shell moulds. An effort has been made through experiments, to study the feasibility of decreasing the shell wall thickness from the recommended one (12 mm), in order to reduce the cost and time of production, as well as to evaluate the dimensional accuracy, mechanical properties of solder (20-80) lead alloys castings obtained, for assembly purpose. The study suggested that the shell thickness, having value less than the recommended one, is more suitable from the dimensional accuracy and an economic point of view. Further sound casting results are supported by microstructure analysis. The result indicates that at 1 mm shell thickness, slight variation in hardness of the casting is observed, but production cost and production time has been reduced by 45.75% and 43% respectively from recommended 12 mm.

Keywords: three dimensional printing; 3D printing; solder lead alloys; dimensional accuracy; mechanical properties; shell thickness; rapid casting; shell casting; production time; production cost; microstructure; hardness; rapid manufacturing; shell moulds; wall thickness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2010.036114

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2010 Vol.1 No.4, pp.408 - 421

Published online: 19 Oct 2010 *

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