Rapid Tooling for Zinc Spin Casting Using Arc Metal Spray Technology

Abstract

A research and development effort was made to investigate the feasibility of rapid tooling for zinc spin casting using stereolithography (SL) and arc metal spray technologies. The study is based on a specific practical case where intermediate tooling processes are required to make an intermediate tool from the SL pattern. The intermediate tool is then used in an arc metal spray process to form a metal master tool that is subsequently used to make spin casting moulds. Different materials and processes were studied to fabricate the intermediate tools. It shows that ceramics, used in investment casting and Shaw process, are suitable materials for the intermediate tools required to make the metal master tools. A preliminary analysis of the dimensional errors confirms the viability of the proposed tooling process chain.