Selective powder deposition (SPD) is an additive manufacturing technology developed to produce metal parts. In the process, unbound metal and support powders are deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion to produce the desired geometry. The build structure is then sintered or infiltrated to produce a solid metal product.  The focus of... more

Selective powder deposition (SPD) is an additive manufacturing technology developed to produce metal parts. In the process, unbound metal and support powders are deposited in a layer-by-layer fashion to produce the desired geometry. The build structure is then sintered or infiltrated to produce a solid metal product.  The focus of this research was to determine if selective powder deposition (SPD) could be used to produce 3D printed sand molds and cores. To test this, an SPD printer was obtained and modified to print shell sand as the build medium with unbound silica sand as the support medium. The builds were cured in an oven to bind the shell sand structures. Several 3D model parts were produced to evaluate the capabilities of the printer. The structures produced included a resolution test print and a horizontally parted mold. An aluminum casting was successfully produced from the mold.

The results indicate that SPD can be used to economically create 3D printed sand molds and cores. This presentation will detail modifications made to the SPD printer to produce 3D printed sand structures, the results obtained, and potential directions of future work to further develop this technology for 3D sand printing. less