editorial E
Have We Seen the Paradigm Shift?
W ‘‘ hy does one
manufacturing technology trend gain ground while another fades into the past?
T is question presents itself when the newest
technology becomes hot and is expected to revolutionize manufacturing. In this month’s issue, we examine the additive manufacturing process used to make production-like sand molds and cores for metalcasting from CAD fi les. Take a look at our feature, “Printing Possibilities” on p. 36 to see how 3-D printing is infl uencing metalcasting. T is specifi c additive manufacturing process has
the power to produce engineered cast components without the need for hard tooling (essentially what is being called tool-less manufacturing) as the sand mold and/or cores that the molten metal
The additive manufacturing process allows you to build molds that can be used to produce engineered sand castings that would be diffi cult to make in traditional production environments.”
is poured into are built, layer by layer, within an additive manufacturing machine. Taking this a step further, these molds and cores can be built without concern for some of the traditional sand casting design considerations like draft as there isn’t a need to draw tooling from a mold face after the sand is compacted. As a result, the additive manufacturing process allows you to build molds that can be used to produce engineered sand castings that would be diffi cult to make in traditional production environments. While there is a cost penalty for these molds, they have started to gain traction for short production runs and actual cast prototypes. Additive manufacturing as a whole has received a
lot of coverage recently because of great advancement in the last few years. With the U.S. government developing the America Makes: National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institutes to bring together
industry and academia to rationalize this technology into wide-scale manufacturing reality, national media, like Time magazine’s April 2013 cover story, have repeatedly shed light on the technology’s development as the new wave of laborless manufacturing. Like most technologies, however, the current form is just one step in the evolution. But the possibilities are exciting. T ink of the metalcasting plant of the
future. Does the industry eliminate the need for tooling or dies as metalcasters just print molds (sand, metal or ceramic) directly at whatever rate required? Taking this a step further, are molds eliminated entirely as the cast shape is formed by a magnetic fi eld applied to levitated molten metal or semi-solid billet? Or, will 3-D printing of metal become advanced enough to produce components with the necessary mechanical properties at a high enough production rate and low
enough cost to meet demand? However the future breaks for metalcasting and the production of engineered metal components for you, the focus is going to be on faster time to market at reduced costs with increased performance. The question is if that paradigm shift in metal component manufacturing is already on display and just needs to evolve or is it still to come?
Alfred Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Metal Casting Design & Purchasing, email me at
aspada@afsinc.org.
Nov/Dec 2013 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 5
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