Development of Full Mould Casting using Polystyrene Cutting Machine

Full mould casting process uses polystyrene foam as the pattern. The pattern is kept in sand mold. As the metal is poured, the foam vaporizes, and the metal takes its shapes. The gas from the foam flees through the sand. The advantage of this process is that complex shaped casting can be made without draft or flash. Moverover the process has less energy consumption and less waste residues than other casting processes. The present study is to fabricate a polystyrene cutting machine to cut poly styrene to shape pattern and evaluate full mould casting process. The present work Al-Si eutectic alloy is used to produce casting. Aluminum silicon eutectic alloy generally called L-M 6 contains 10 to 13 percent by weight silicon. Due to its good casting properties, high strength to weight ratio and excellent corrosion resistance, this alloy finds applications in automobile aircraft and marine industries. This alloy is best suited for automobile components like piston, cylinder, intake manifolds etc. Test result is encouraging. In modification shown the casting product has good mechanical properties and surface finish. Test result shown that LM 6 alloy casting using modifier given good casting shape with complicated profile casting in full mould process.