Objectives and content

In this proposal it is planned to develop a completely new type of mould. This type of mould is necessary for cast pieces with low batch sizes and a complicated surface like propeller blades and large components of paper machines. The main objectives are the complete replacement of mould sand and binder material, the reduction of the production time (app. 45 %) due to automated mould forming and the minimization of the environmental impact of casting debris, noise and dust.

Although it is expected that much more than 10 % of the 2935 European foundries will use the project results in the future, this alone will lead to a market potential of app. 150 MECU and annual savings for each foundry of app. 500 kECU, not included the usage of partial project results like the new mould materials, the modular mould box and the robot for automated mould forming.

The following steps are necessary to reach the project's goal:
- The key factor of the whole development is the modular moulding box system. It will be accomplished by developing new environmentally save, recyclable mould material which will replace the patterns and the mould sand used today. Due to its modularity it easily and quickly can be adapted to any new dimensions and shape of casting pieces.

- For the reduction of the production time and cost a robot system is developed for the mould forming, measurement and surface finishing. This robot system is programmed automatically and directly from CAD-data based on a knowledge-based, process-oriented programming system.

This idea of sandless and patternless forming is a revolutionary development for the European foundry industry, in which the technical progress in the past was very slow. This project is very important for this industry, which is in strong competition to the producers from the Far East and has the chance to get an competitive edge with this project in order to support the foundry production sites within Europe.