See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/333472773

Case Studies on Integrating 3D Sand-Printing Technology into the Production

Portfolio of a Sand-Casting Foundry

Article in International Journal of Metalcasting · May 2019

DOI: 10.1007/s40962-019-00340-1

CITATIONS READS

48 7,467

3 authors, including:

Santosh Reddy Sama Guha P. Manogharan

Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University
7 PUBLICATIONS 313 CITATIONS 103 PUBLICATIONS 2,757 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Guha P. Manogharan on 03 June 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 CASE STUDIES ON INTEGRATING 3D SAND-PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
INTO THE PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO OF A SAND-CASTING FOUNDRY

Santosh Reddy Sama and Guha Manogharan

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

Tony Badamo
Hazleton Casting Company, Hazleton, PA, USA

Copyright  2019 American Foundry Society

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40962-019-00340-1

Abstract
Metal casting foundries all across USA are increasingly that 3DSP has the ability to (1) reduce shrinkage by
adopting the recent development in additive manufacturing allowing casting in optimal orientation without hard-tool-
including 3D sand printing (3DSP) due to its unique ability ing requirements, (2) reduce lead time through rapid mold
to fabricate molds and cores without any tooling require- fabrication by easier facilitation of nesting multiple parts
ment such as patterns, cores, core boxes, flasks among into a single mold, (3) allow hybrid molding by integrating
others. This new method of rapid mold fabrication can 3DSP with conventional mold making and (4) fabricate
accelerate process cycle times, reduce shrinkage defects, tooling-less complex castings, respectively. Findings from
offer part consolidation, functional integration and cus- this study would help foundries rethink their design process
tomization that could facilitate the growth of foundry from traditional pattern-drawing to a new and radical
industries. This study demonstrates how the adoption of freeform-based design process via 3DSP.
3DSP technology has contributed to a conventional ferrous
metal casting foundry that specializes in manufacturing Keywords: 3D sand printing, metal casting, additive
impellers, turbine housings and other mining equipment. manufacturing, shrinkage porosity, misrun, casting
Four industrial case studies are presented to illustrate simulation
novel opportunities via 3DSP. These case studies validate

Introduction and Background • Patterns and core boxes

• Patterns are conventionally manufactured by
Based on production capacity, sand casting foundries can
joining wooden sheets and machining. This
be broadly divided into two categories: large production
operation requires highly skilled labor and is
run and medium-to-small production run industries. In the
the most expensive processing step with
latter case, foundries could take as long as 3–8 weeks to
significantly high lead time.2 Therefore,
produce castings for each design. The patterns and core
design iterations are very expensive and
boxes in the latter case might never be used again or would
laborious to perform.
be used only a few times till gradual degradation over the
• After initial casting runs, patterns are usually
years causes the pattern to lose its dimensional conforma-
stored in a warehouse until subsequent pro-
bility. Foundries that make complex castings in smaller
duction runs. The pattern storage requires
batches face several problems as listed below1:
significant amount of space, expensive to
operate and do not directly generate any
revenue.
Disclaimer Trademarks, Product and Company names used in this • Patterns are usually made of wood which is
paper are for reference purposes only and do not imply that listing any
very sensitive to environmental conditions. A
of these commercial names is meant as an endorsement, recommen-
dation or suggestion for purchase or licensing of them by the authors prolonged storage of patterns and core boxes
or their affiliations. results in a loss of dimensional

International Journal of Metalcasting

 conformability.3 Preservation of wood over a 3DSP process falls under binder jetting category with
long period of time also demands explicit higher production speed among the seven categories in AM
environmental specifications for storage space processes.13 It uses silica sand as feedstock and selectively
that could often be expensive. deposits binder (e.g., Furan) in a layer-by-layer approach to
create complex molds.13 The loose sand is removed to
• Mold making
create mold cavities and as there is no explicit requirement
• The requirement to draw the pattern out of the of patterns or core boxes, there is no need for drafts to
mold limits the feasibilities of geometries that vertical faces and cores for undercuts. The molds are
could be cast. expendable, and therefore, storage space and pattern wear
• Because of the necessity to draw the pattern are not applicable. However, 3DSP is a relatively newer
out, drafts must be applied to all faces that are technology and there is a knowledge gap that hinders its
outward pointing perpendicular to the draw broader adoption.14 Hence, it is important to rethink tra-
direction.4 ditional design and process-planning approach to fully
• Undercuts hinder the withdrawal of the pat- exploit opportunities presented by 3DSP.
tern from the mold and which otherwise
would require additional cores.4 The aim of this research is to evaluate and demonstrate
design opportunities to solve some of the foundational
• Functional Performance
problems associated with traditional sand casting process.
• Often sub-optimal geometries are employed in This is illustrated through examples of practical industrial
castings, gating and feeding systems because applications to bridge the knowledge gap between con-
of the geometrical limitations of traditional ventional casting foundries and 3DSP process. Further,
mold-making process.5 casting performance of conventional designs is compared
against 3DSP’s reengineered designs which can produce
These inherent challenges in traditional sand casting have freeform geometries without any tooling restrictions. Four
been detrimental to the metal casting industries. Com- case studies are presented to evaluate if design freedom in
pounded by higher labor costs in the USA, industries are 3DSP can: (1) reduce shrinkage through allowing optimal
forced to outsource manufacturing to countries with casting orientation, (2) reduce lead time by allowing rapid
cheaper labor markets.6 In order to enhance the sustain- mold fabrication by nesting multiple parts into a single
ability of the foundry sector in the USA, several foundries mold, (3) seamlessly integrate with conventional mold
recently adopted the 3D sand printing (3DSP) additive making through hybrid molding and (4) fabricate tooling-
manufacturing (AM) process because of the process’s ver- less complex castings.
satility in making castings of higher geometrical complexity
and flexible sizes without any tooling requirement.7,8 3DSP The objectives of these four case studies are not mutually
has ushered in a new age of sophisticated, rapid and reliable exclusive to illustrate the benefits of both individual and
form of mold fabrication technology for metal castings. It integrated design features via 3DSP. Even though part
was found that the average production batch of about half of functionality is a distinguishing opportunity for 3DSP as
surveyed foundries in the USA are less than 100 units with a demonstrated in numerous studies,8,10 the research focus of
significant number of foundries having a production batch this article is on cast part geometries that cannot be altered.
of 5 or less.9 Core consolidation via 3DSP is often used in Functional performance and economics are critically
conjunction with traditional mold making.10 In summary, evaluated during the redesign of molds via 3DSP. ‘‘Liter-
the most dominant cost driver to integrate 3DSP technology ature Review’’ section presents a brief overview of repor-
in foundries is the reduced labor cost. The most significant ted studies on rigging design in traditional sand casting
benefit is the reduced lead time and less tooling fabrication along with the 3DSP process, and its current applications in
time, while the most prohibiting factor for 3DSP integration the metal casting industry. ‘‘3DSP for Optimal Casting
is the high initial capital cost of acquiring 3D sand printers.9 Orientation’’ section through ‘‘3DSP to Fabricate Complex
According to a recent survey, the capital cost accounts for Castings’’ section details the four case studies and presents
60% of challenges in acquiring 3DSP capabilities9 and it critical discussions pertinent to the respective case studies.
was shown that foundries are interested in investing in Conclusions and future directions are outlined in final
3DSP if capital acquisition cost was less than $100,000. section.
Production cost of 3DSP parts is relatively inexpensive
(\ $0.20 per in3,10–$0.13/in3.11). Although the authors are
not aware of publicly available surveys that demonstrate the Literature Review
growth of 3DSP AM, the increase in number of machi-
nes/machine suppliers (ExOneTM, VoxelJetTM, Envi- 3DSP is a binder-jetting-based technology which is part of
sionTECTM), service bureaus (HumtownTM, Hoosier additive manufacturing (AM, often referred as 3D printing)
PatternTM11) and 3DSP-supplies,12 they hypothesize that it and is proven to be effective especially in low-volume
indirectly reflects the potential in 3DSP growth. production runs when compared to traditional molding

International Journal of Metalcasting

since long setup time and significant labor expenses are solidification rate are major factors in design of feeder
involved in the latter process.15 The mechanical perfor- systems.1 While having an undersized riser volume is
mance and hardness of aluminum castings were found to be obviously undesired, it is also important to avoid an
identical between 3DSP molds and conventional molds.16 oversized riser due to higher accumulation of thermal
Castings with novel sprue designs that can harness 3DSP’s energy. Such concentrated local thermal energy results in
design freedom are found to have better mechanical per- reduced cooling rate, undesired coarser microstructures and
formance and reduced porosity and inclusions.17 In another low yield.34 Therefore, optimal riser geometry and location
study, 3DSP molds were observed to have significantly are required to improve casting performance by reducing
higher mechanical performance and lower binder content feeder-related defects. Unfortunately, the geometry of the
for gas generation due to the controlled sand and binder cast part limits the riser placement at sub-optimal locations
distributions.18 Also, the furan binder that is typically used in the mold due to constraints in conventional tooling.
in 3D printed molds was observed to have a better cooling Example of one such industrial component is discussed in
capacity due to the higher amount of heat required for this section, and the methodology to eliminate shrinkage by
decomposition of the mixture.19 Material properties and redesigning for 3DSP is presented.
dimensional accuracy of the tensile test dumb bells,
cylinders and geometric features were investigated for 3D Case Study I: Closed Vane Impeller
sand-printed samples20 and ceramic binder-jet AM sam-
ples.21 However, the existing engineering knowledge does Conventional Tooling
not include casting design rules specifically for 3DSP,
thereby limiting its adoption in foundries. It is critical for Impellers are representative of difficult-to-machine cast-
foundries to produce (1) defect-free castings at (2) minimal ings comprising of highly complex geometries and thin
cost in low-volume production runs.22 Casting defects can sections. They are the foundational components of turbo-
be classified into four categories: (1) filling-related defect, machinery in mining, petrochemical and aerospace indus-
(2) shape related defect, (3) thermal defect and (4) defect tries. Closed vane impeller castings enclose the vanes
by appearance.23 It was found that 90% of the defects in between two shrouds that are separated and parallel to each
castings are caused by improper design of gating and other. The geometry of the impeller shown in Figure 1
feeding system.24 These defects are usually resolved using requires parting line that must be parallel to both shrouds
solidification and fluid flow simulations which have due to limitations in conventional mold making. The pat-
become routine and valuable tools in foundries to predict tern should be removed, and core needs to be inserted only
process characteristics such as metal filling pressure, when the shrouds are parallel to the parting line. The
velocity, solidification, hot spot location, stress distribution requirement to draw out the tooling to create cavity dictates
and porosity.25 Other studies have employed statistical the orientation of the impeller (i.e., cast part) in the mold.
tools, finite element tools, advanced optimization tools, However, it can be observed that the bottom shroud ring is
topology optimization algorithms to reduce casting disconnected from any practical feed paths from risers in
defects.26–31 In the case of casting impellers, computational such orientations.
simulation of different gating designs was conducted to
eliminate most casting defects.22 Rejection of castings due In the case of conventional tooling, Figure 2a shows the
to rigging related defects has been reduced by 30% using rigged model of the closed vane impeller casting simulated
casting simulation techniques.27 Defect-free casting with for cast iron. This design uses risers, chromite sand (as
no internal porosity has been made possible by optimizing mild chills), riser sleeves and bottom gating system with
the riser location based on casting simulation studies.30 In two in-gates. Figure 2b shows the material density function
summary, redesign of rigging system in functional castings (MDF) of the rigged model35 of conventional tooling
using modeling and simulations has been shown to be
successful in minimizing casting defects by several
experimental studies.25,31–33 However, no reported studies
have experimentally evaluated the design freedom of gat-
ing via 3DSP to reduce casting defects (as opposed to
redesign the casting).

3DSP for Optimal Casting Orientation

Enhancing directional solidification by strategically

employing risers (also known as feeders) to shift shrinkage
from the cast part into the riser is an established concept in
feeding mechanism.1 Pressure, pressure gradient, thermal
gradient, premature solidification and material-dependent Figure 1. Closed vane impeller geometry.

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 2. (a) Conventional rigged model of closed vane impeller casting along with various elements of rigging
system. (b) Iso-surface showing material density function (MDF) [35] based on solidification simulations for
conventional rigged model of closed vane impeller casting. Shrinkage porosity is observed in shroud ring.

featured casting after performing solidification simulations via 3DSP to connect risers to shroud rings in vertical ori-
in SOLIDCast 8. MDF is used to visualize the flow of the entation enables multiple rigging system possibilities. The
liquid feed metal and contraction of the casting during and redesigned rigging system is developed after numerous
after solidification. An MDF value of 0.995 is the accept- iterative casting simulations. This design employed only
able threshold for porosity in the casting in this study.32 As three risers and a single in-gate as opposed to four risers
shown in Figure 2b, the bottom shroud ring has significant and two in-gates in conventional mold design. Figure 3b
porosity despite the provision of large risers and chromite shows MDF of the redesigned rigged closed vane impeller
sand chills. This undesired porosity at the shroud ring is is at 0.995. It can be observed that the cast part has dras-
prevalent in castings of closed vane impellers via con- tically reduced shrinkage porosity when compared to
ventional tooling36 and often leads to rejection of the cast casting from conventional mold making. With advanced
part. Therefore, complex, low-volume production runs and chilling provisions such as addition of chromite cores and
expensive castings such as a closed vane impeller provide sleeves, the cast part could be produced without any
an opportunity to explore non-traditional rigging design via porosity. Figure 4 provides such example where a parting
3DSP to produce defect-free castings to meet engineering line that is perpendicular to the plane of shroud has been
specifications. made possible using 3D sand printing.

Discussion
Methodology for Eliminating Shrinkage Using 3DSP
Often in conventional mold making, the geometry of cast
The rationale for the redesign process lies in the principle part dictates the orientation of the casting in the mold.
that the high volume of metal in the shroud ring requires However, orientations via traditional mold making cannot
additional riser with a practical and connected feed path. always accommodate risers of optimal size and/or position
However, it is difficult to hold a feasible feed path in the resulting in incomplete feed path. Often, designers in
horizontal casting orientation in conventional mold-making foundries are anticipating the occurrences of shrinkage but
process. Therefore, an alternative approach is proposed to are restricted to employing sub-optimal orientations
orient the cast part vertically with its shrouds perpendicular because of limitations in conventional tooling. With
to the direction of gravity as shown in Figure 3a to connect introduction of 3DSP technology in a foundry, optimal
risers to the shroud ring. The presence of intensive and orientations can be cast without concerns of hard-tooling.
complex undercuts shown in Figures 1 and 3a makes it This case study establishes the evidence that 3DSP has the
impossible to produce the mold using conventional tooling ability to incorporate optimal casting orientation when
techniques. conventional tooling is either impossible or extremely
expensive. In addition to reducing casting defects, metallic
3D sand printing has the ability to offer unparalleled design yield can also be improved by employing freeform risers of
freedom and is ideal for such applications. The feasibility optimal geometry at ideal locations.

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 3. (a) Vertical casting orientation facilitating access to feed metal to shroud ring. (b) Iso-surface showing
material density function (MDF) based on solidification simulations for redesigned rigged model of vertical oriented
closed vane impeller casting. No shrinkage porosity is observed in shroud ring.

Figure 4. (a) Closed vane impeller casting demonstrating a difficult parting line perpendicular to plane of shroud
that was made possible through 3D sand-printing. (b) Double shroud closed vane impeller casting after grinding.

3DSP for Lead Time Reduction potentially, the pouring time (if alloy is the same across
different castings). This benefit is illustrated and validated
Introduction experimentally through an industrial application in this
section.
As observed in reported studies,8–10 lead time to fabricate
molds and cores can be drastically reduced in foundry Case Study II: Complex Bracket
operations by 3DSP. Since the build volume ranges in
currently available 3DSP systems are in the order of 60 -80 , Problem Statement
it can further accelerate the cycle time by consolidating
molds and cores required for multiple unique cast parts into The complex bracket geometry shown in Figure 5a has
a single build, thereby reducing unit AM printing time and multiple undercuts and thin features which are extremely

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 5. (a) Complex Bracket geometry—case study II. (b) Rigged model of nested complex brackets based on
conventional knowledge base for 3DSP.

difficult to fabricate via conventional tooling. In this Nesting of Complex Brackets: 3DSP Featured
instance, eight units of this cast iron bracket was required Freeform-Based Rigging: Iteration 1
and 3DSP of individual molds would take several days of
print time. This is a common challenge in employing AM In this subsection, rigging model featuring 3DSP freeform
technology due to the economic uncertainties in printing a pouring basin, runner and sprue configurations will be
large batch production. However, the large build volume of presented. A pouring basin with undercuts and lateral and
3DSP process enabled the authors to conceive a design multiple sprue exits with sprue covers was proposed as a
where all eight cast parts can be incorporated into a single solution for the misrun defect problem in thin-walled
mold. The challenges involved in consolidating multiple castings.5 The objective of redesigning the gating and
complex parts into a single mold will be discussed in the feeding system is to: (1) reduce 3DSP time by increasing
rest of this section. packing factor in the mold and (2) eliminate misrun defect
problem along with other casting defects. After several
design iterations, reorienting the part by 60 was found
Nesting of Complex Brackets: Conventional optimal to increase metallic yield. The procedure for
Knowledge Base (Simulation Study) design iterations and optimization is not included in this
report and can be found in literature.25,30,32,33,35 Novel
If all the eight complex brackets were to be assembled into sprue designs were found in literature to increase the
a single mold based on knowledge from conventional strength and reliability of castings.17
tooling, a single sprue would be connected to multiple
runners to respective in-gates. After multiple design itera- Figure 6a shows the redesigned rigging for the consoli-
tions, a rigging model based on conventional knowledge dated eight cast part system. It can be observed that four
was developed and shown in Figure 5b. However, this non-vertical sprues laterally protrude from pouring basin
configuration has a higher risk of misrun defects due to and each sprue delivers metal to two cast parts through two
solidification of liquid metal prior to filling thinner sections in-gates. This 3DSP-centric design enables the sprues to
of the cast part. Also, higher thermal energy loss has the function as conventional runners thereby decreasing ther-
potential to freeze feed paths from risers leading to mal energy loss. Runner extensions are provided at the end
shrinkage-related defects. In addition, misrun defects of each sprue to mitigate turbulence in gating system based
would be intensified due to lower superheat in alloys with on a prior study.5 Runner extensions also act as vent holes
lower freezing range or lower fluidity. Advanced filling as they are open to atmosphere. Based on solidification
systems via 3DSP could enable successful casting of simulations, one full riser and two shared risers per cast
multiple parts within a single mold. part are provided as shown in Figure 6a. Vent holes are
also provided at the top of each riser to provide an escape

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 6. (a) 3DSP featured freeform-based rigged model of nested complex
bracket casting: Iteration 1. (b) Experimental cast part from first iteration after the
mold is shaken out (upside down). (c) One of the eight cast parts after the parent
casting from first iteration is cleaned off risers and in-gates.

path for gases generated during the liquid metal filling accommodate all the aforementioned observations to pro-
process. duce a defect-free casting.

The molds are fabricated using Viridis3D RAM 3D sand

printer with 0.4 mm layer thickness, and the loose sand in Nesting of Complex Brackets: 3DSP Featured
the cavities is removed prior to pouring. The molds are Freeform-Based Rigging: Iteration 2
poured in cast iron, and Figure 6b shows the bottom of as-
cast parts after the molds are shaken out. Figure 6c shows The casting orientation is modified to position the bracket
one of the eight cast parts after the risers and in-gates are arms parallel to the parting line in order to easily remove
removed from the parent casting. It can be observed that loose sand after 3DSP. Based on simulation, each cast part
the casting is not completely filled and a misrun defect is required three independent risers along with a shared side
observed in one of the brackets. Since this occurred in one riser for shrinkage free casting as shown in Figure 7a.
of the eight castings, the authors believe that the misrun Another major revision is the provision of four additional
defect could be due to incomplete removal of the loose sprues to deliver metal at the location of misrun in the
sand from the mold pieces rather than from loss of thermal previous iteration in order to eliminate the likelihood of
energy. The reorientation of casting by 60 made the arms misruns due to incomplete filling.
of the bracket span across several mold pieces leading to
trapping of loose sand at difficult to remove locations. In After defining the parting lines, the molds are fabricated
addition, the position of risers made it difficult to access the and all the mold pieces are completely drained out of loose
casting for grinding and cleaning. Cast iron is not easily sand. After pouring, the mold is shaken out, the resulted
irreparable and since the arm is a critical structural part of parent casting is shown in Figure 7b, and the final cast
the casting, this casting run was scrapped. Another iteration product after cleaning is shown in Figure 7c. It can be
is required to produce a successful casting and will observed that the casting is free of misrun defects and

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 7. (a) 3 3DSP featured freeform-based rigged model of nested complex bracket casting: Iteration 2.
(b) Experimental cast part from second iteration after the mold is shaken out. (c) One of the eight cast parts after the
parent casting from second iteration is cleaned off risers and in-gates.

shrinkage porosity defects. Location of the risers has been second iteration facilitates uniform mold filling with
optimized compared to the first iteration to increase its ease velocities adhering to critical velocity condition of 0.5 m/
of removal. s.1 It was also observed from thermal history that the
conventional-knowledge-based cast part experienced
Fluid flow simulations with 10 s filling duration are per- higher temperature drop during filling to form misrun
formed in FLOWCast module in SOLIDCast 8 version. defect. On the other hand, the 3DSP featured casting
Figure 8 compares the filling velocity profile of the con- demonstrated relatively isothermal filling in the casting
ventional and 3DSP featured gating system in the second with significantly lower thermal loss.
iteration. It can be observed that the conventional-knowl-
edge-based gating system generates very high turbulence Another major takeaway from this case study is the ability
with velocities reaching as high as 1.81 m/s in the cast part. to provide drain paths for removal of loose sand in complex
On the other hand, 3DSP featured gating system in the molds. Even though 3DSP can make molds of any com-
plexity, the cavities cannot be entirely enclosed within the
mold, and therefore, a drain-path must be provided.
Though it is typical to provide parting lines at such sur-
faces, it increases the chance of mold-shift, core-shift and
cleaning labor time. The optimal casting orientation is not
only affected by the access to risers as shown in case study
1 but also minimizes parting lines as shown in this case
study.

This case study demonstrates that design freedom via 3DSP

should be carefully coupled with the fundamentals of casting
hydrodynamics and thermal management to produce defect-
free castings. Draining access to remove the loose sand will
be increasingly critical with increase in complexity of the
cavity. Parting lines, casting orientation and complexity of
the cavity are critical to define the draining paths. The indi-
vidual mold halves must be perfectly aligned and could be
implemented using alignment pins or assembly features.
Any misalignment between mold halves would result in
mismatch defect in the casting.20

Hybrid Molding

Background and Requirements

Figure 8. Filling velocity of (a) conventional knowledge-
based and (b) 3DSP featured second iteration gating Center bearing housing (CBH) made of CD4MCu duplex
system. stainless steel is a large industrial casting typically used in

International Journal of Metalcasting

mining industry and often suffers from several subsurface In the previous design of gating system, a non-tapered
defects that were found in the center bore as shown in straight sprue was used. Though a multi-gate runner system
Figure 9. Even though stainless steel is easily weldable, the was employed, the cross section of the runner after each in-
intensity and multitude of subsurface defects made the gate was not reduced which resulted in non-uniform pres-
casting irreparable and resulted in scrapping of the casting. sure conditions across the in-gates. Therefore, all of the
In this industrial application, it was critical to achieve elements in the gating system must be redesigned. The
engineering specification and also produce a physical pat- authors believe that the most defective element in the
tern for future conformity. previous gating system is the employment of non-tapered
straight sprue. Conventionally, a non-tapered steel rod was
Case Study III: Center Bearing Housing assembled in the pattern and sand was packed around to
(Experimental Study) create sprue geometry. However, this configuration is
widely known to result in cavitation issues due to higher
The porosity found in Figure 9 could be due to lack of turbulence in the filling process.37 Therefore, a tapered
either proper feeding system and/or proper gating system. sprue is recommended for this casting. The sprue and
A riser fed the center hub through the circular section at the pouring basin elements are fabricated using 3DSP and later
top of the center hub which is a relatively narrow feed path assembled on the physical pattern which was produced
to feed a high-aspect-ratio hollow cylinder. Upon obser- using traditional approach.
vations, the authors hypothesize that top feeding mecha-
nism will fail to eliminate shrinkage porosity from long The sprue was connected to two symmetrical runners with
hollow cylinders, and therefore, risers are needed inside the gradually reduced cross sections after each in-gate to
casting to render defect-free casting. According to the final equalize the pressure at the in-gates. The detailed drawing
engineering specifications, the inner surface of the hub of redesigned rigging system along with an example of
needs to be machined. Since machining process (i.e., cen- assembly feature for hybrid molding is presented in ‘‘Ap-
ter-boring) is inevitable, risers could be placed inside the pendix.’’ After assembling the sprue on the pattern, foundry
casting. This is accomplished by casting the center hub as a sand is packed. The two mold halves are assembled, and
solid cylinder as opposed to a hollow cylinder. This con- the pouring operation with stainless steel alloy lasted for
figuration drives the shrinkage porosity to occur near the approximately 34 s. The slag and dross were found to
center of the solid cylinder as opposed to the surface. Since intensely accumulate at the sprue well without entering
center-boring operation will always be required, the subsequent gating system in 3DSP sprue design. Upon
shrinkage porosity near the center will always be removed cleaning, grinding, machining and other post-processing
during machining. This method is highly suitable only for operations, the casting was found to be successful and free
ductile alloys due to favorable machinability such as of all casting defects. Center hub was free of all shrinkage
stainless steel in this application. To promote directional defects, and additional repairing operations were not
solidification, a cone-shaped cavity is provided at the required.
bottom of the solid cylinder as shown in Figure 10. It
should be noted that in the conventional mold design, a top
riser and three additional side risers at the intersection of
ribs and center hub are employed to feed the ribs. However,
in the redesigned 3DSP mold design, the solid cylinder acts
as the riser and feeding system for the entire casting.

Figure 9. Scrapped center bearing housing due to sub- Figure 10. Elements of redesigned feeding system for
surface defects. center bearing housing.

International Journal of Metalcasting

Discussion as shown in Figure 11b. A 0.4 mm layer thickness in
Viridis3D RAM 3D sand printer is used, and the resulting
This case study proves that 3DSP offers freedom to fab- mold is shown in Figure 11c.
ricate the mold elements that are only necessary for the cast
part and can be integrated with conventional mold making. The molds are cast in aluminum 319 alloy, and the resul-
Therefore, foundries can utilize 3DSP technology to fab- tant casting after cleaning is shown in Figure 11d. It can be
ricate difficult-to-fabricate mold pieces to reduce both AM observed in Figure 11d that the layers inherent to AM
printing time and lead time. The concept of hybrid mold- printing are clearly reflected onto the sand casting. Typi-
ing, i.e., utilization of 3D printed mold and core pieces on cally, mold wash is applied to all internal surfaces of mold
conventional molds, has always been attractive to foun- to enable smooth cast surfaces. However, mold wash was
dries. Complex cores are 3D printed instead of using core not applied for the printed mold under consideration
boxes to reduce lead time and tooling costs. 3DSP is because of its complex internal features that could be prone
established as a cost-effective production method for to non-uniform coating thickness (if mold wash is applied).
multiple piece cores over the traditional methods.38 Non-uniform coating thickness results in dimensional non-
Seventy-nine percent of the surveyed foundries produce conformability and is undesired. This case study shows that
cores in-house along with sand molds. If the volume of even though 3DSP can produce complex and freeform
cores is small, they can be nested very closely in a build castings with superior feature conformance, as-cast surface
box to be packed all over the build volume to produce a features will be coarse and ‘‘as-cast’’, i.e., similar to tra-
large quantity of cores in a single build. Authors believe ditional sand casting. Post-processing operations to
that the opportunity of 3DSP pf cores for integration into improve surface finish are usually necessary which would
conventional sand molds is a promising feature of 3DSP result in additional cost and time added to the production
technology. These concepts fall under hybrid molding, and cycle. Another study in the literature confirmed that the
the casting industry is adopting the effective strategy to 3DSP process is limited by the achievable surface finish.41
balance the components of mold that are to be 3D printed The mean surface roughness of aluminum casting produced
vs conventionally manufactured to produce high through- from 3DSP molds was found out to be about 10 lm.16 It
put and high-quality castings. This case study is one such was also observed that the surface roughness of aluminum
example that demonstrates that in addition to reducing lead castings produced using 3DSP molds is higher than tradi-
time and tooling costs, hybrid molding enables improved tional no-bake molds.16 These issues can be resolved by
casting performance. improving the resolution of 3DSP and/or by designing
mold to enable uniform coating thickness. Three replicates
of this mold are fabricated using 3DSP in 2 days which
3DSP to Fabricate Complex Castings validates the critical processing capability of 3DSP to
reduce lead time.
Structural designs in industries are rapidly transforming
from feature-based to freeform-based geometries.39 Pat- In summary, while this study presents novel design-mold
terns of such complex freeform structures are expensive fabrication-casting capabilities offered by 3DSP; there are
and not easy to construct,40 and sand casting is losing its further advancements desired in current state of 3DSP:
market share to other high fidelity, more expensive casting higher production rate, lower capital and consumable costs,
processes such as investment casting and die casting. The standardized procedures for core removal/design proce-
dimensional conformability of the conventional pattern is dures, handling strength of 3DSP cores, etc.
also uncertain for complex features.40 3DSP can be used to
produce highly complex molds relatively inexpensively
when compared to other high fidelity casting processes. In Conclusions
this section, this ability of 3DSP is demonstrated via
casting a highly complex freeform structure. 3D sand-printing technology (3DSP) is offering a new age
of sophisticated, rapid and reliable form of mold fabrica-
Case Study V: Nittany Lion tion technique for metal castings. This technology could
advance the modern foundry supply chains through capital
The geometry of Nittany Lion used in this case study is investment, lead time, tooling expenses, quality manage-
shown in Figure 11a. It can be seen that the part features, ment and among others. Four case studies are presented in
undercuts and change in cross section of this part make it which 3DSP is demonstrated to provide novel manufac-
extremely challenging to achieve such feature conformity turing solutions when conventional mold making is limited
using conventional patternmaking process. In addition to by its inherent manufacturing constraints. The summary of
challenges in fabricating pattern and cores for this complex the four industrial case studies are:
design, the costs of conventional process are not favorable
to produce mold for this part. On the other hand, 3DSP is 1. 3DSP is demonstrated to resolve shrinkage-
more suitable to produce molds for such complex castings related porosity by offering freedom to optimally

International Journal of Metalcasting

 Figure 11. (a) Geometry of Nittany Lion Mascot. (b) Three-piece mold to make Nittany Lion casting. (c) 3D printed
mold piece (cheek) featuring complex internal cavity of Nittany Lion casting and (d) Nittany Lion casting made of
aluminum 319 alloy. The AM layers are clearly reflected onto the casting.

orient the cast part in the mold without the need replaced with 3DSP mold parts. Through hybrid molding,
for drafts, undercuts, etc. only necessary parts such as complex cores can be 3D
2. 3DSP is shown to reduce lead time by nesting printed and their implementation can be adopted based on
multiple cast parts within a single mold. Practical supply chain needs. Future effort would include cost and
solutions to resolve misrun and shrinkage-related lead time comparative studies between 3DSP and con-
issues are also presented. ventional mold making for medium run production volume
3. 3DSP is shown to integrate seamlessly with as a function of complexity of the cast part.
conventional casting system and help in its
growth by offering unique advantages through
Acknowledgements
enabling rapid fabrication of difficult-to-mold
elements and among others. The authors would like to thank Hazleton Casting
4. Complex castings with freeform-based geome- Company for providing opportunity to conduct exper-
tries are shown to be successfully made through iments at their center for additive manufacturing
molds made via 3DSP. Higher surface roughness facility. Authors would like to thank Steve Anderson,
is observed as a current limitation of this process. Tim Visgaitis, John Frutchey and Frank Lee at HCC
The concept of hybrid molding is very attractive for for providing support with experiments. Authors would
medium-to-small production run foundries due to the like to thank Dr. Robert Voigt, Chris Anderson and
scalability of this approach. Any element of the conven- Travis Richner—FAME Lab for providing foundry
tional mold that affects the casting performance can be resources to conduct aluminum casting experiments.

International Journal of Metalcasting

Appendix

See Figure 12.

Figure 12. (a) Details of redesigned gating and riser system for center bearing housing (b) Example of hybrid
molding assembly: Protrusion on the physical pattern to ensure proper alignment of the 3D printed sprue.

REFERENCES topology optimization. Int. J. Metalcast. 13, 2–17

(2018)
1. J. Campbell, Complete Casting Handbook: Metal 9. P.C. Lynch, C. Beniwal, J.H. Wilck IV, Integration of
Casting Processes, Metallurgy, Techniques and binder jet additive manufacturing technology into the
Design (Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 2015) metal casting industry, in IIE Annual Conference.
2. C. Mendonsa, V.D. Shenoy, Additive manufacturing Proceedings (Institute of Industrial and Systems
technique in pattern making for metal casting using Engineers (IISE), 2017), pp. 1721–1726
fused filament fabrication printer. J. Basic Appl. Eng. 10. E.S. Almaghariz, B.P. Conner, L. Lenner, R. Gulla-
Res. 1(1), 10–13 (2014) palli, G.P. Manogharan, B. Lamoncha, M. Fang,
3. Patternmaker’s Manual, 1st edn (American Foundry Quantifying the role of part design complexity in using
Society, Chicago, IL, 1953) 3D sand printing for molds and cores. Int. J. Metalcast.
4. B. Ravi, M.N. Srinivasan, Features-based castability 10(3), 240–252 (2016)
evaluation. Int. J. Prod. Res. 33(12), 3367–3380 (1995) 11. https://hoosierpattern.com/additive-manufacturing/3d-
5. S.R. Sama, J. Wang, G. Manogharan, Non-conven- sand-printing
tional mold design for metal casting using 3D sand- 12. A. Lowder, Voxeljet and TEI sign contract for supply
printing. J. Manuf. Process. 34, 765–775 (2018) of 500,000 liters of 3D printed sand. 3D Printing
6. H. Büchner, Global Economy and the Situation of the Media Network (2018). https://www.3dprintingmedia.
Foundry Industry. Dresden, September 23. IKB network/voxeljet-tei-sign-3-year-3d-sand-contract/
Deutsche Industriebank. Global Casting Magazine 13. M. Upadhyay, T. Sivarupan, M. El Mansori, 3D
(2016). https://www.globalcastingmagazine.com/wp- printing for rapid sand casting—a review. J. Manuf.
content/uploads/2016/10/2_Buechner_IKB_77673.pdf Process. 29, 211–220 (2017)
7. W. Van Wijck, D. Dimitrov, N. De Beer, An intro- 14. Modern Casting Staff Report, 15 takeaways on addi-
duction to rapid casting: development and investiga- tive manufacturing. Mod. Cast. 108(11), 32–37 (2018)
tion of process chains for sand casting of functional 15. C. Achillas, D. Aidonis, E. Iakovou, M. Thymianidis,
prototypes. S. Afr. J. Ind. Eng. 18(1), 157–173 (2007) D. Tzetzis, A methodological framework for the
8. J. Wang, S.R. Sama, G. Manogharan, Re-thinking inclusion of modern additive manufacturing into the
design methodology for castings: 3D sand-printing and

International Journal of Metalcasting

 production portfolio of a focused factory. J. Manuf. 28. C.E. Esparza, M.P. Guerrero-Mata, R.Z. Rı́os-Mer-
Syst. 37, 328–339 (2015) cado, Optimal design of gating systems by gradient
16. D. Snelling, H. Blount, C. Forman, K. Ramsburg, A. search methods. Comput. Mater. Sci. 36(4), 457–467
Wentzel, C. Williams, A. Druschitz, The effects of 3D (2006)
printed molds on metal castings, in Proceedings of the 29. R. Tavakoli, P. Davami, Optimal riser design in sand
Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (2013), casting process with evolutionary topology optimiza-
pp. 827–845 tion. Struct. Multidiscip. Optim. 38(2), 205–214
17. S.R. Sama, T. Badamo, P. Lynch, G. Manogharan, (2009)
Novel sprue designs in metal casting via 3D sand- 30. S. Kumar, P.S. Satsangi, D.R. Prajapati, Optimization
printing. Addit. Manuf. 25, 563–578 (2019) of green sand casting process parameters of a foundry
18. D. Snelling, C. Williams, A. Druschitz, A comparison by using Taguchi’s method. Int. J. Adv. Manuf.
of binder burnout and mechanical characteristics of Technol. 55(1–4), 23–34 (2011)
printed and chemically bonded sand molds, in SFF 31. R.W. Lewis, K. Ravindran, Finite element simulation
Symposium, Austin, TX (2014) of metal casting. Int. J. Numer. Meth. Eng. 47(1–3),
19. J. Tóth, J.T. Svidró, A. Diószegi, D. Stevenson, Heat 29–59 (2000)
absorption capacity and binder degradation character- 32. J. Jezierski, R. Dojka, K. Janerka, Optimizing the
istics of 3D printed cores investigated by inverse gating system for steel castings. Metals 8(4), 266
Fourier thermal analysis. Int. J. Metalcast. 10(3), (2018)
306–314 (2016) 33. C.M. Choudhari, B.E. Narkhede, S.K. Mahajan,
20. P.M. Hackney, R. Wooldridge, Characterisation of Modeling and simulation with experimental validation
direct 3D sand printing process for the production of of temperature distribution during solidification pro-
sand cast mould tools. Rapid Prototyp. J. 23(1), 7–15 cess in Sand casting. Int. J. Comput. Appl. 78(16),
(2017) 23–29 (2013)
21. M. Vaezi, C.K. Chua, Effects of layer thickness and 34. S. Lampman, Casting Design and Performance, 1st
binder saturation level parameters on 3D printing edn. (ASM International, Materials Park, 2009)
process. Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 53(1–4), 35. P. Muenprasertdee, Solidification modeling of iron
275–284 (2011) castings using SOLIDCast. Master’s Thesis. West
22. S. Chaudhari, H. Thakkar, Review on analysis of Virginia University (2007)
foundry defects for quality improvement of sand 36. J.K. Kuo, P.H. Huang, H.Y. Lai, J.R. Chen, Optimal
casting. Int. J. Eng. Res. Appl. 4(3), 615–618 (2014) gating system design for investment casting of 17-4PH
23. R. Rajkolhe, J.G. Khan, Defects, causes and their stainless steel enclosed impeller by numerical simu-
remedies in casting process: a review. Int. J. Res. lation and experimental verification. Int. J. Adv.
Advent Technol. 2(3), 375–383 (2014) Manuf. Technol. 92(1–4), 1093–1103 (2017)
24. S.L. Nimbulkar, R.S. Dalu, Design optimization of 37. R.W. Ruddle, The Running and Gating of Sand Cast-
gating and feeding system through simulation tech- ing. Inst. Met. Monogr. Rep. Ser. 19 (1956)
nique for sand casting of wear plate. Perspect. Sci. 8, 38. J. Thiel, Additive manufacturing for metal castings.
39–42 (2016) Foundry Educational Foundation Keynote Presentation
25. H. Iqbal, A.K. Sheikh, A. Al-Yousef, M. Younas, (2014)
Mold design optimization for sand casting of complex 39. B. Lu, D. Li, X. Tian, Development trends in additive
geometries using advance simulation tools. Mater. manufacturing and 3D printing. Engineering 1(1),
Manuf. Process. 27(7), 775–785 (2012) 85–89 (2015)
26. J. Kor, X. Chen, H. Hu, Multi-objective optimal gating 40. R. Patil, Development of complex patterns: scope and
and riser design for metal-casting, in Control Appli- benefits of rapid prototyping in foundries. Int. J. Eng.
cations (CCA) & Intelligent Control (ISIC), 2009 Innov. Technol. 1(4), 68–72 (2012)
IEEE (2009, July), pp. 428–433 41. E. Bassoli, A. Gatto, L. Iuliano, M. Grazia Violante,
27. Z. Sun, H. Hu, X. Chen, Numerical optimization of 3D printing technique applied to rapid casting. Rapid
gating system parameters for a magnesium alloy Prototyp. J. 13(3), 148–155 (2007)
casting with multiple performance characteristics.
J. Mater. Process. Technol. 199(1–3), 256–264 (2008)

Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with

regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.

International Journal of Metalcasting

View publication stats