3D Systems Expands Investment Casting Portfolio

3D Systems now offers QuickCast Air, an advanced tool in its investment casting portfolio, designed to maximize material removal from the interior of casting patterns. This enables reduced material consumption, lower pattern costs, faster build times, cleaner burnout processes, and improved draining efficiency. The company showcased the new product at its booth at the IMTS 2024 event in Chicago this week.

According to the company, with QuickCast Air, end users in industries such as foundries, aerospace & defense, and energy can deliver large, high-precision investment casting patterns with no limitation on geometric complexity. QuickCast Air is already helping some of 3D Systems' large-volume aerospace customers reduce the material consumption on their patterns. Additionally, customers are seeing a reduction in build times.

The technology provides an economic alternative to investment casting with wax. Although the material used is more expensive than wax, the resulting molds are up to 95% air, meaning that companies will use significantly less material when creating casting patterns. 

The mold created via QuickCast Air (on the right) uses a less dense lattice structure to reduce the amount of material needed to create investment casting parts. Image courtesy of Digital Engineering.

The technology relies on a larger lattice pattern. Instead of a relatively dense, repetetive lattice, QuickCast Air uses surface webbing and struts that are similar to what you might see in a leaf. "The bigger the part, the more economical this is," said Patrick Dunne, vice president, advanced applications, 3D Systems. "It can be up to three to four times more economical than wax, depending on the part."

QuickCast Air is available to 3D Systems’ customers through its 3D Sprint software, which is integral to the company’s polymer printing platforms. This feature, available via an annual subscription, allows customers to design casting patterns with fewer structures within the self-supporting walls. Using less resin and building more refined support structures results in less material needing to be burned out and less ash.

Having less internal structure makes it easier to drain the resin, retaining more within the vat during the draining process rather than being lost downstream. Within 3D Sprint, users can easily adjust the part’s shell thickness and add vents and drains on any surface, simplifying part set-up regardless of build orientation.

QuickCast, 3D Systems' 3D-printed investment casting process, enables manufacturers to produce lightweight, hollow parts with 3D Systems’ polymer technologies such as Stereolithography (SLA), or MultiJet Printing (MJP) that ultimately can be used to produce end-use metal components.

“Since 3D Systems introduced QuickCast more than two decades ago, we have continued to evolve this unique tool and the capabilities it provides,” Dunne said. “Our customer-centric approach to innovation fuels this transformation by closely aligning with their unique challenges. As with many of our products, QuickCast Air was born from a specific customer’s application requirements.”

3D Systems showcased QuickCast Air in its booth (West Building, booth 433129) at this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) on September 9-14 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL. 

A lightweight casting created via QuickCast Air. Image courtesy of Digital Engineering.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.