Development and application of a mold clamping mechanism for improving dimensional accuracy of vacuum casting parts and reducing mold production cost

• Published in: International journal of advanced manufacturing technology Vol. 118; no. 5-6; pp. 1577 - 1588
• Main Authors: Kuo, Chil-Chyuan, Liu, Hsueh-An, Lu, Hong-Yi, Shi, Pi-Rong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer London 2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Batch production; CAE) and Design; Clamping; Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD; Engineering; Industrial and Production Engineering; Injection molding; Mechanical Engineering; Media Management; Molds; Original Article; Pressure sensors; Production costs; Silicone rubber; Vacuum casting; Production cost; Silicone rubber mold; Vacuum casting; Clamping mechanism; Pressure sensor
• ISSN: 0268-3768; 1433-3015
• DOI: 10.1007/s00170-021-08029-8

Vacuum casting (VC) is a highly versatile manufacturing technique capable of producing parts in a wide range of polymers for end use plastic parts or prototypes. VC technology is ideally suited to low volume batch production compared with plastic injection molding since a silicone rubber mold (SRM) can be used to produce up to fifty to eighty parts. The main challenge of this method is that the both dimensional and form accuracies of the VC parts were affected by the fastening force of the SRM using tape due to the fastening force is inconsistent for different operators. In this study, an intelligent SRM clamping mechanism comprising a pressure sensor and Arduino pressure sensing module was developed for reducing the variations in both dimensional and form accuracies of the VC parts. It was found that the 14 kPa is the optimal clamping pressure. The angular deviation of the cuboid VC parts produced by the intelligent clamping mechanism falls within the range of one standard deviation (SD) to the average. The minimum zone circle deviation of the cylinder VC parts produced by the intelligent clamping mechanism falls within the range of − 1 to 2 SDs. In addition, the production cost of the SRM can further be reduced by about 23% using an intelligent clamping mechanism compared with that using the conventional method.