windform ps
WINDFORM PS is a new polystyrene-based material able to produce complex investment casting patterns. FS Precision Tech is an investment casting foundry. They cast complex castings for CRP in both Titanium and Steel. Greg Gregory, Technical Director of FSPT said “I find that Windform PS material works well with our process and produces castings of equal or greater quality than the standard material
WINDFORM PS is a new polystyrene based material, suited to produce complex investment casting patterns. The sintered patterns are enough porous in order to allow the convenient wax infiltration, and therefore becoming easy to handle and to finish.
WINDFORM PS patterns can undergo the typical rapid casting procedure, including autoclaves and flash firing steps, low-temperature furnaces and vacuum plaster casting methods.
Improved properties, compared to other polystyrene materials already available on the market, and that make the difference, are:
- Improved surface quality and details reproduction
- Less “curling” effect on the first layers
- Very low ash content, therefore perfect suitable for highly reactive alloys, such as Titanium alloys too, besides aluminium, magnesium, steel and nichel base alloys.
The recommended wax is a standard 100% paraffin wax (with melting point of about 54°C) and infiltration is for about 10” @ 70°C.
features
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Class of material
Polystyrene based Material -
Technology
Additive Manufacturing
applications
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Complex investment casting patterns
Casting with highly reactive alloys, besides typical cast alloys
The casting structure is formed of an aggregate of grains or polyhedral crystallites which produce isotropy compensation, while in a solid metal they are anisotropic: it is obvious that isotropy has great advantages, for instance, FEM calculations are very close to the real behaviour of the part thanks to the isotropy of the piece.
Moreover, Rapid Casting with laser sintered patterns allows complete shape conception freedom (no even supports needed): thus reducing undercut and tool path problems during CNC machining. It’s therefore possible to create the product along its mechanical stress axes, and to obtain a perfect reproduction of all details of the RP pattern, with tolerances and surface finishing of a very high quality (such as fully machined parts).
