Title: Studying the effect of chemical treatment and fused deposition modelling process parameters on surface roughness to make acrylonitrile butadiene styrene patterns for investment casting process

Authors: Vivek Tiwary; P. Arunkumar; Anand S. Deshpande; Vaidyanath Khorate

Addresses: Department of Industrial Production & Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi 08, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi 08, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi 08, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi 08, Karnataka, India

Abstract: The surface finish of a pattern is vital in any casting process. The mould replicates whatever kind of surface condition the master pattern offers. Therefore, to produce castings with good surface finish, the master pattern made by Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) must have better surface quality. However, in the FDM process, the surface finish of the parts produced is found to be inferior as compared to wax. To enhance its surface quality, different attempts have been made by several researchers by controlling different process parameters. In this study, an attempt has been made to observe the influence of chemical treatment and FDM process parameters on surface roughness of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) patterns to be used for investment casting. Design of Experiments (DOE) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to statistically analyse the significant parameters and their interactions. From the analysis, the best process parameters were predicted. Results also showed that substantial improvement in surface quality of FDM patterns can be obtained with simple inexpensive chemical treatments.

Keywords: rapid prototyping; fused deposition modelling; acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; ABS patterns; design of experiments; analysis of variance; ANOVA; chemical treatment; FDM process parameters; surface quality; surface roughness; investment casting; surface finish; master pattern.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2015.074807

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2015 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.276 - 288

Received: 11 Jul 2015
Accepted: 13 Nov 2015
Published online: 19 Feb 2016 *

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