Vacuum casting of non-metallic complex parts | Optimization of the vacuum casting process in silicone rubber moulds for small batch production

This book is the result of the research undertaken by the author in his Ph.D. thesis and it is addressed to bachelor students, master students, and researchers in the field of Rapid Tooling. The book presents in its first part the significant technologies for manufacturing the active elements of the molds and comparisons between these technologies, emphasizing a few criteria such as the dimensional accuracy, the roughness, the class of fabricated products, the productivity and cost of the manufacturing. In the second part of the book, the vacuum casting processes is simulated using MoldFlow software. The analysis led to the improvement of the castings quality because, by simulation, it indicates exactly the area where the risk of accumulating air bubbles emerges, respectively the ideal placement of the casting funnel. The simulation generated a data-set based on which mathematical models were established using the Response Surface Method. The mathematical model was validated by graphical comparison with both experimental results and numerical simulation, with good agreement between them.