Three-dimensionally printed core box blank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11458532-B2
Application number	US-202016742562-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2020
Priority date	Jan 14, 2020
Publication date	Oct 4, 2022
Grant date	Oct 4, 2022

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a cold box core includes injecting unbonded sand into a cold box core tool, the unbonded sand including sand mixed with a resin, the cold box core tool including: a first platen; a first insert half secured to the first platen; a second platen; and a second insert half secured to the second platen and configured to alternately mate with and separate from the first insert half, each of the first insert half and the second insert half being three-dimensionally printed from a polymer material, the first insert half and the second insert half together forming a cavity therebetween defining an outer geometric shape of the cold box core; and injecting gas into the unbonded sand to harden the cold box core.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a cold box core tool and a cold box core, the method comprising:
printing a first insert half using a three-dimensional printer, the step of printing the first insert half comprising printing a first near-net shape insert half; and
printing a second insert half using the three-dimensional printer, the step of printing the second insert half comprising printing a second near-net shape insert half;
trimming the first insert half using a CNC router;
trimming the second insert half using the CNC router, the first insert half and the second insert half together forming a cavity defining an outer geometric shape of the cold box core that the cold box core tool is configured to produce; and
manufacturing the cold box core with the cold box core tool.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
securing the first insert half to a first platen of the cold box core tool; and
securing the second insert half to a second platen of the cold box core tool.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising trimming the first insert half using the CNC router so that the first insert half defines a first cavity portion at least in part forming the cavity defining the outer geometric shape of the cold box core.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
trimming the first insert half using the CNC router so that the first insert half defines a first cavity portion; and
trimming the second insert half using the CNC router so that the second insert half defines a second cavity portion, the first cavity portion and the second cavity portion together forming the cavity defining the outer geometric shape of the cold box core that the cold box core tool is configured to produce.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
printing the first insert half comprises forming the first insert half as a monolithic structure; and
printing the second insert half comprises forming the second insert half as a monolithic structure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
trimming the first insert half comprises cutting a plurality of first alignment bushing openings; and
trimming the second insert half comprises cutting a plurality of second alignment bushing openings.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising positioning a first alignment bushing in each of the plurality of first alignment bushing openings of the first insert half.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising positioning a second alignment bushing in each of the plurality of second alignment bushing openings of the second insert half.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first insert half and the second insert half comprises a carbon fiber in-fill of between 20 percent and 30 percent, inclusive, by weight.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the core box core tool comprises:
a first platen, the first insert half secured to the first platen; and
a second platen; the second insert half secured to the second platen.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein manufacturing the cold box core comprises:
injecting unbonded sand into the cold box core tool, the unbonded sand comprising sand mixed with a resin; and
injecting gas into the unbonded sand to harden the cold box core.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein manufacturing the cold box core comprises maintaining the cold box core tool at room temperature.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first insert half and the second insert half is formed from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising three-dimensionally printing each of the first insert half and the second insert half using a large-scale additive manufacturing machine.

Assignees

• Mueller Int Llc

Inventors

• Pike Andrew Henderson
• Busler Joel Clinton
• Bradley Jason White

Classifications

• B22C9/10 Primary

  Cores; Manufacture or installation of cores {(breaker cores B22C9/084)} · CPC title

• B33Y40/20

  Post-treatment, e.g. curing, coating or polishing · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B22C9/123 Primary

  Gas-hardening · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title