Traditional Casting Faces Prominent Dilemmas, Urgently Needing a Breakthrough for Industry Development

In the traditional sand casting process, wood pattern molding is the mainstream production method. However, when dealing with castings with complex structures, uneven wall thickness, and curved surfaces, the industry has long been confronted with multiple challenges.

The manufacturing of complex curved surface molds has become the primary challenge. For castings with complex curved surfaces, mold manufacturing often relies on the manual chiseling and planing skills of wood pattern craftsmen. This not only makes processing extremely difficult but also makes it hard to effectively guarantee mold precision, directly affecting the quality of subsequent castings. Meanwhile, complex molds need to be split into multiple simple structures for separate processing and then assembled. Gaps are prone to appear at the assembly joints, which not only affect the dimensional accuracy of castings but also reduce the overall connection strength of the mold, shortening its service life.

Cost and efficiency issues are also prominent. The production of complex castings usually requires external molds and multiple sets of core boxes. The large number of molds and long manufacturing cycle lead to high production costs. In addition, the traditional casting and molding process is cumbersome, and core assembly is difficult. This not only results in high labor intensity but also keeps production efficiency at a low level, making it difficult to meet the efficient production needs of modern manufacturing.

3D Printing Makes a Powerful Breakthrough, Reshaping the Logic of Casting Production

The in-depth application of 3D printing technology has brought a subversive revolution to the traditional casting industry, achieving the transformation goal of "simplifying complexity and improving quality and efficiency" in casting manufacturing. It promotes the comprehensive upgrading of casting production towards digitalization, intelligence, and greenization, with its core advantages reflected in multiple dimensions.

The integrated design and manufacturing model greatly simplifies the process. Driven directly by CAD models, 3D printing technology can directly print molds or sand molds (cores) from 3D graphics, completely abandoning the cumbersome intermediate links in traditional processes, realizing seamless connection between design and manufacturing, and greatly improving the simplicity and continuity of the production process.

Breaking the limitation of complexity has become a core competitiveness. Different from traditional processes, 3D printing technology is not affected by the complexity of parts. No matter how complex the casting structure is, its manufacturing process can be decomposed into simple 2D contours and superimposed layer by layer. The more complex the casting structure, the more processes such as splitting and assembly are saved by 3D printing technology, and the more obvious its advantages are.

The fast and efficient characteristics accelerate product iteration. 3D printing does not require the necessary tooling fixtures and special molds in traditional production, and the system has extremely high flexibility. When it is necessary to adjust the product structure, product updates can be quickly realized only by modifying the 3D model, which greatly shortens the product R&D and production cycle and provides strong support for enterprises to seize market opportunities.

Precision and environmental protection advantages are doubly improved. In terms of mold manufacturing, 3D printing can replace traditional wood patterns with integrally formed plastic molds, or directly print wax patterns for investment casting, and even directly manufacture sand molds or sand cores, significantly improving the precision of molds and castings. At the same time, this technology has also realized the production transformation of "people-oriented, green and intelligent". It not only greatly improves the working environment of the casting workshop and reduces the labor intensity of workers but also reduces labor cost input through "machine substitution". As a typical digital manufacturing technology, 3D printing also significantly improves the intelligence level of casting production, promoting the industry's leap from "traditional manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing".

Technology Integration Empowers, Ushering in a New Future for the Casting Industry