TSINGHUA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISSN  1007-0214  36/38  pp212-215

Volume 14, Number S1, June 2009

Rapid Manufacturing of Sand Molds by Direct Milling*

DONG Xiaoli (Ռ໋ु)**, LI Xinya (ह໭ཐ), SHAN Zhongde (Ӧᄱԃ), LIU Feng (ঞ ‫)מ‬

Advanced Manufacture Technology Center of China Academy of

Machinery Science & Technology, Beijing 100083, China;
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Forming Technology and Equipment, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: Direct milling of sand molds is an important development in rapid manufacturing of sand molds.
Direct milling is an effective method for manufacturing single or small batches of cast parts. This paper de-
scribes experimental investigations to find sand blocks with the appropriate strength, to describe wear pat-
terns of different tools (high-speed steel (HSS), carbide, and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools), and to
analyze sand mold cutting mechanisms. The results show that the PCD tool outperformes the other tools in
terms of tool life. Average flank wear and micro-tipping are the dominant tool failure modes in the sand mold
milling process. With a flank wear limit of 0.3 mm, the PCD tool works continuously for about 70 h under the
experimental conditions. The experimental results show that the cutting mechanism for direct milling sand
molds differs from metal cutting.

Key words: milling sand molds; tool-wear; rapid manufacturing; cutting mechanism

rapid prototyping methods make the process easier and

Introduction
Casting has been extensively applied in various indus-
tries, enabling rapid development of non-ferrous cast-
ings for automobile, aviation, and aerospace. However,
traditional production methods for large quantities of
casting molds are not cost-effective, not flexible and
enegy intensive due to the conventional moulding or
core-making method. Moreover, analyses show that the
moulding and core-making processes create 30%-60%
of casting defects critical to high-quality castings[1]. As
a result, casting mold production plays an important
role in casting fabrication. Genarally, casting mold
production can be divided into conventional methods
based on dies and rapid sand mold manufacturing
based on layered manufacturing methods[2-4]. Although
Received: 2008-11-09; revised: 2009-03-16
* Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 50775092) and the China International Science and Technol-
ogy Cooperation Project (No. 2008DF71250)
** To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail:yjsdxl@yahoo.com.cn; Tel: 86-10-82415124
more accurate, these methods are still more time con-
suming than desired or have practicality limitations. In
addition, many of these methods only produce proto-
types of wax, plastic, or paper/wood, which are insuf-
ficient for most laboratory testing[5-8]. For manufactur-
ing, component samples must be verified before full
production to reduce lead times and costs. The devel-
opment cycle can generally be categorized into con-
ceptual modeling, detailed design, prototyping/testing,
manufacturing, and product release. Changes in the
conceptual modeling stage are cheapest, while changes
at the product release stage are most expensive[6-8].
Therefore, the quicker a prototype can be used in test-
ing or verification, the more changes a manufacturer
can make before it is manufactured or released to the
marketplace. Thus, new mold making methods are
needed that do not require high manufacturing speeds.
With the development of numerical control (NC)
technology, directly milling has been used to create
sand molds of castings which are adapted to a com-
petitive environment and are bringing momentous
 DONG Xiaoli (Ռ໋ु) et alġRapid Manufacturing of Sand Molds by Direct Milling 213

changes in foundries. This method, which avoids
mould making, eliminates work steps, and reduces al-
lowances, is suitable for single and mini-batch casting
production, especially for fabrication of large castings.
Some companies, for example ACTECH and
METROM, have applied this technology to production.
The Advanced Manufacture Technology Center of
China Academy of Machinery Science & Technology
(CAMTC) has also created a forming machine that
produces high quality sand molds.
1 Experimental Procedure
The purpose of the experimental work was to observe
the tool wear behavior of different cutting tools and to
study the mechanisms for milling sand molds. Washed
silica sand with a binder and ester curing agent was
used as the experimental materials. The silica sand
properties are listed in Table 1. The properties of the
binder, a new colorless, tasteless, and pollution free
water-glass are listed in Table 2. The ester curing agent
properties are given in Table 3.
Table 1 Properties of silica sand
Particle SiO2 Acid
Designation
(order) (%) (%)
ZGS90-21Q-30 50/100 90 4.0
ZGS85-15Q-30 70/140 88 4.0
the silica sand and the water-glass binder for 40 s and
then for 30 s with the ester curing agent. Then, the
mixture was poured into a 260 mm×260 mm×50 mm
moulding flask to form a sand block.
(2) The hour and the final strength of a standard ten-
sile and a compressive sample were measured on a
hydraulic strength testing machine.
(3) The sand mold was then measured to evaluate
the tool wear. The flank wear on the tools was meas-
ured after certain machining intervals using a measuring
microscope. The wear criterion was flank wear (VB
300 ȝm) corresponding to an edge decline of 0.03 mm.
The worn region of the tool was also analyzed.
2 Experimental Results and
Discussion
2.1 Sand block strength
Figure 1 shows the tensile strength as a function of
curing time for water-glass/silica sand ratios of 2.5%
or 3% and curing agent/water-glass ratios of 15% or
20%. The compressive strengths were shown in Fig. 2.
The tensile strength ranges from 0.4-0.55 MPa while
Coefficient of the compressive strength reaches 2.7-3.1 MPa with
angularity
1.2
1.2

Table 2 Sodium silicate binder properties

Viscosity Density Fe Insoluble
Designation 3
(Pa‚s) (g/cm ) (%) (%)
HYT S-101 -350 1.40-1.56 -0.05 -0.6

Table 3 Ester curing agent properties

Designation Viscosity (Pa‚s) Density (g/cm3) Free acid (%)
Fig. 1 Tensile strength of sand block
HYT G-132 -100 1.10-1.20 -2

The experimental equipment consisted of a three-

axis milling machine, a blowing sand system, CAD
software, and an NC system. The machining range was
800 mm×600 mm×250 mm. The axis location error
was ±0.05/300 mm and the reposition error was ±0.03
mm/full-stroke. The high-speed steel (HSS), carbide
and polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tools were used for
the milling.
The milling sand mold tests were conducted in three
steps.
Fig. 2 Compressive strength of the sand block
(1) The sand block was prepared by first premixing
 214 Tsinghua Science and Technology, June 2009, 14(S1): 212-215

48 h of curing time, regardless of water-glass or curing on the flank face is shown in Fig. 5, which appeared to
agent ratios. In addition, for the same curing time, the be triangular at the tool tip. Thus, the tool tip should
compressive strength increases as the water-glass sand have edge rounding for direct sand mold milling.
block ratio increases. The experimental results also
show that during the initial sand block curing stage, the
tensile strength and the compressive strength are so
low that the cutting performance is quite poor. The
sand block strength increases with the increasing cur-
ing time and the machining properties improve. The
sand block has good cutting performance at a curing 20 Pm
time of 48 h.
Fig. 4 Flank wear on the HSS tool
2.2 Tool wear

The flank wear HSS, carbide, PCD tools in Fig. 3 show

varying tool-wear progression for the same cutting
conditions (cutting speed of 30 m/min, cut depth of 1
mm, and feed speed of 50 mm/s). The wear progres-
sion for the HSS tool and the carbide tool are similar
with the flank wear increasing gradually during cutting
before reaching a wear of 0.2 mm. The PCD tool dis-
played less tool wear than the other tools. When the 20 Pm

flank wear reached 0.3 mm, the HSS tool could cut
continuously for 2 min, the carbide tool for 8 min, and
the diamond tool for about 70 h. Then, the PCD tool is
recommended as the most suitable tool material for
machining sand molds.
Fig. 3 Flank wear curves for the different tool materials
Fig. 5 Flank wear on the carbide tool
Although the PCD tool had a better cutting per-
formance than other tools, the hard sand particles
caused micro-chipping of the PCD tool as shown in
Fig. 6. The phenomenon may occur as the diamond
particles are abraded by the SiO2 in the sand block.
Friction during machining of the sand mold is more
serious than during metal cutting. Although the PCD
tool has good wear resistance, small chamfering of the
surface with a clearance angle of 0° may occur on the
flank surface. The tool wear experiments show that the
PCD cutting edge life is longer than that of the carbide
or HSS tools, but impact loads which exceed the tool
strength lead to micro-chipping or breakage.

The tool wear patterns were also monitored during

the tool wear progression. The experiments show that
the wear was greatest on the rake and flank faces dur-
ing machining. Early in the cutting, initial breakdown
in the HSS tool cutting edge was observed as shown in
Fig. 4 with only flank wear which increased rapidly.
Then, the flank wear became constant, with crater wear
appearing on the rake face which is typical of abrasive
20 Pm
wear. Finally, the tool wear became uncontrollable,
leading to tool tip failure. The wear on the carbide tool Fig. 6 Micro-chipping of the diamond tool
 DONG Xiaoli (Ռ໋ु) et alġRapid Manufacturing of Sand Molds by Direct Milling
2.3 Cutting mechanism
An analysis on the curing mechanism of the water-
glass sand is necessary to understand the milling
mechanism for the casting mold. Ester curing of the
water-glass sand includes physical and chemical hard-
ening. Acid and alcohol precipitated after the organic
ester hydrolyzed, and then the acid and sodium silicate
reacted. At the same time, free silicate and salt were
produced, which cause the sodium silicate to change
into silicasol. Thus, the water-glass sand rapidly solidi-
fied. Alcohol has such a high affinity for water that
dehydration of the sodium silicate can be accelerated
during curing[9]. When the sodium silicate sand mixes
with silica sand, the sand particle can create a flat wa-
ter-glass film, with neighboring sand particles forming
binding bridges as shown in Fig. 7. In this way, the
gelling process builds up the bond strength. The bond
strength of water-glass sand mainly depends on the
strength of the sand grain and the sodium silicate and
the bonding strength between the sand and the sodium
silicate[10].
Fig. 7 Sodium silicate sand bonding mechanism
Therefore, milling sand mold mechanism with a low
cutting force is different from that of metal cutting
which includes elastic deformation, plastic deforma-
tion, and fracture. A schematic diagram of the cutting
of a sand block is shown in Fig. 8. The machining of a
sand block with binder is a serious of interrupted cuts.
The essence of the mechanism is that sand on the cut-
ting layer is compressed by the rake faceˈfollowing by
shearing stress of the bond bridge. As the tool moves
along v direction as shown in Fig. 8, the shearing stress
reaches the critical bonding strength and the bond
bridges between the sand grains break. Then, the sand
v [9] Zhang Huaisong. Production practice of ester hardening
Fig. 8 Cutting of a sand block
215
grain extrudes along the crack. The strain is then less
than that of metal cutting, because of the sand block
structure and the small cutting deformation.
3 Conclusions
An experimental study of the cutting of a sand block
shows as follows:
(1) Direct milling of a sand mold is effective for
single and mini-batch production of casting molds,
especially for large castings.
(2) Flank wear and micro-tipping are the dominant
tool failure modes during the milling of sand molds.
The main tool wear mechanism is abrasion by the SiO2
particles in the sand block. Abrasion of the cutting tool
depends on the sand particle size and the bond strength
in the sand block.
(3) Tool wear tests with three kinds of tool materials
show that the PCD tool has better cutting performance
than the others and is suitable for sand mold milling.
(4) The mechanism for the milling of casting molds
involves less cutting force which differs from that of
metal and wood manufacturing.
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