01-11-2022: voestalpine announced the installation of a massive 6-meter 3D printer
It was designed for producing sand casting molds
On January 11, 2022, voestalpine Gießerei, a subsidiary of the voestalpine Group, launched a giant sand 3D printer at its facility in Traisen, Lower Austria. This machine, dedicated to manufacturing heavy steel castings, was developed and installed by the Chinese company Kocel Machinery.
The Austrian voestalpine group has long been involved in metal 3D printing, primarily as a provider of services and powder materials for SLM (Selective Laser Melting) and EBM/DED (Electron Beam Melting / Directed Energy Deposition) technologies. The group began collaborating with Kocel in 2014 as part of its expansion into the Chinese market for specialty steels. Together, they supply high-quality tool steel and forged materials for the automotive, consumer goods, and machinery manufacturing industries.
voestalpine Gießerei installed the sand 3D printer in its 3D printing competence center for sand printing and announced plans to install a second machine in spring 2022. The machines, named Foundry Sand-AJS 2500A and Foundry Sand-AJS 2600A, are certified with EU CE and ISO 9001 standards.
These machines are enormous by 3D printing standards, each measuring 6 meters in length and width and weighing over 30 tons. They feature build areas of 2.5 × 1.5 × 1 meters and 2.6 × 2 × 1 meters, enabling printing with layer thicknesses of 0.2 mm. They use quartz sand and ceramsite sand combined with furan resin, phenolic resin, and inorganic resin binders.
Additionally, the machines include a resin binder recovery system, which ensures low resin consumption and allows for the reuse of recycled sand in future production processes.
The sand molds are created by repeatedly applying 300-micrometer-thick layers of chemically bonded quartz sand. Large molds can also be printed in separate sections and then assembled. This innovative production process is primarily used for casting components in the energy, automotive, and railway industries.
Source: www.voestalpine.com