Moulding Techniques for a Brake Caliper Assignment

Moulding Techniques for a Brake Caliper - Assignment Example End products are normally component products applicable in various industries and applications. Below are samples of brake calipers of the various make of vehicles. It is also known as expandable pattern casting (EPC). LFC involves the substitution of a low solidity foam prototype by liquid metal. It offers the capability of a direct production of nearly any multifaceted geometry including sophisticated cavities and undercuts without tapers and the requirement for considerable completed work (Bhattacharjee 201). Compared to the conservative sand casting methods it has an environmental and economic advantage. The actual LFC-system applies patterns of expandable polystyrene (EPS) for manufacturing applications. These patterns, directly designed to shape, are engrossed in a molding case with binder less sand. The fluid metal, which is dispensed into the molds of the downspouts, vaporizes the EPS model, which is specifically substituted by the metal (Bhattacharjee 201). With the opportunity of assembled prototypes very sophisticated shapes can be generated and the castings can be replicated with amazing dimensional accuracy. Pattern making: The first material needed for pattern production is EPS. The first step in the LFC-procedure is the pre-enlargement of EPS beads. After maturing the beads are gusted into a mold producing the pattern part. The mold is then heated up with steam to expand the beads more and tightly fit the hole of the mold. Hot vapor and enlargement of the beads make them to weld together (Bhattacharjee 201). Cluster assembly. Complicated parts involving hidden cavities and undercuts cannot be molded in one operational step, but are accumulated from pattern sections into a complete pattern. Amalgamation techniques used are heated platen welding, gluing and plugging. In order to augment the effectiveness of the total process, numerous patterns are joined into a cluster and provided with a common gate structure, also made of EPS.