Reduced Costs and Lead-times for Discrete-Parts Manufacturing Of Cast Metal Components Using Innovative Tooling Techniques And Advanced Pattern Materi

Castings are used in 90% of all manufactured goods and in all manufacturing machinery according to the American Foundry Society (AFS). The metal casting industry is essential to the national defense of our country. Approximately 10% of all castings shipments ($35B in 2006 according to AFS) are produced soley for military applications. These include tanks, planes, ships, weapons and a myriad of other military hardware which contain thousands of cast parts. When the tooling required to produce an item is not available, it must be manufactured, extending production lead time and increasing the cost of procurement significantly. To reduce unit costs of discrete-parts manufacturing, we propose new tooling techniques combined with a brand new pattern material known as FOPAT (a FOam PATtern) designed for cast metal components. The proposed lower cost tooling materials are enabled as a result of this recent breakthrough in replacement of wax patterns, which are traditionally used in production of investment castings. The machined aluminum tooling required for injection of wax patterns is generally very expensive and time consuming to produce. The proposed technology has the potential of reducing costs to one-sixth and lead-times to one-tenth that of the current figures for the investment cast components.