FEASIBILITY OF RP-ASSISTED SILICONE RUBBER MOULDING BASED ON COST & SURFACE ROUGHNESS PARAMETERS

Abstract

This thesis renders a synergistic approach, rapid prototyping and process for rapid development of investment castings tool and analyzes the defects during tool development and provides a solution in order to minimize them. Rapid Prototyping technique is employed in order to make feasibility of manufacturing of customized part which is not possible by using wax in conventional investment casting process. The entire approach is illustrated and validated through experimental studies in order to have the mould with-in no time and minimum defects and cost. Rapid manufacturing is one of the pre-requisite in order to meet the demand of the modern generation and thus RP and its various techniques has fast become an indispensable part of modern manufacturing. Use of Rapid Prototyping (RP) for Rapid Manufacturing (RM) is one of the important areas of research today. Fused deposition modelling (FDM) process of rapid prototyping is very easy to use and maintain as it is non laser based technique .The technique is used to get the physical part of ABS polymer with lower lead time and using this part to develop the silicone rubber mould. The mould is then used as a tool of investment casting. Feasibility of manufacturing the tool for a customized part is the main focus of this project. Metallic products can be manufactured easily if the tool for the part is manufactured with less time consumption and material cost, this tool is obtained with the help of ABS part from FDM and preparing the wax pattern easily which is followed by conventional investment casting process. The experimentation is carried in order to obtain the rubber mould and to use the mould to have the wax pattern . Practical implication of this research aim to address the issue of manufacturing cost effective, defect free customized part. RP has proved to be a cost-effective and time-efficient approach for development of RT, thereby ensuring possibility for technology transfer in casting industries. This has lot of significance in automobile industries in manufacturing of mechanical component & also for orthopaedic medical implants in medical application.