Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for 3D printed mould for casting refractory bricks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The Pilot Coke Oven at RDCIS (Research & Development Centre for Iron & Steel) is used for making coke from different coal blends for evaluation of coke property made out of the coal blends. The oven is electrically heated, and equipped with a series of refractory bricks meticulously arranged both horizontally and vertically, creating a protective barrier on all sides. These bricks play a critical role in safeguarding against heat loss, facilitating heat transfer to the coal, retaining heat within the oven, and providing support to the heating elements. The refractory bricks are complex in geometrical configuration having a cuboid shape and feature a tongue and groove arrangement along with pockets designed for housing heating elements.

Traditional refractory brick production involved the use of wooden moulds to shape the castable, a mixture of refractory material, binders, and water. While this method has been in use for generations, it had several inherent limitations. The wooden moulds absorbed moisture from the castable, leading to bulging and dimensional inaccuracies in casting subsequent refractory bricks. Additionally, the natural removal of moisture during curing created uncertainty in curing time and left residual moisture within the castable, resulting in breakage and damaged bricks upon removal.

Furthermore, the abrasive nature of the castable caused damage to the wooden moulds, leading to rough surfaces on the refractory bricks and making their removal more challenging. This traditional approach also had environmental implications, as it required cutting down trees for the fabrication of the wooden moulds, contributing to ecological imbalances.

In response to these challenges, RDCIS intends to explore the introduction of Additive Manufacturing technology, specifically Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) with Thermoplastic Polymer as an alternate method for the reconstruction of mould for refractory bricks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of construction of 3D printed mould for casting refractory bricks.

An object of the present invention is to investigate the use of Additive Manufacturing Technologies as a substitute for rebuilding and replacing the wooden mould used to cast the refractory bricks for the Pilot Coke Oven.

In one aspect of the present invention, a manufacturing method for the construction of a 3D printed mould, the method comprises: reverse engineering the wooden mould design; modifying the design; developing the 3D CAD model, wherein the mould is constructed using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) based 3D printing technology.

This invention offers a sustainable and efficient solution for manufacturing complex moulds for non-metal applications. It significantly reduces dimensional deviation and ecological impact while providing a smoother texture for easier brick removal.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates 3D CAD drawing of the mould.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding, but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof.

The present disclosure will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are shown.

The present invention addresses the challenges faced in the manufacturing of refractory bricks for a Pilot Coke Oven at RDCIS. These bricks play a crucial role in the coke production process, but their complex geometrical configuration and the use of wooden moulds have led to dimensional inaccuracies, moisture-related issues, and ecological concerns. To overcome these challenges, this invention explores Additive Manufacturing technology to reconstruct the mould for refractory bricks. The objective of the invention is to leverage Additive Manufacturing as an innovative alternative for mould reconstruction. This invention offers a sustainable and efficient solution for manufacturing complex moulds for non-metal applications. It significantly reduces dimensional deviation and ecological impact while providing a smoother texture for easier brick removal.

The drawings of the existing wooden mould of refractory brick were reviewed. The wooden mould was reverse engineered in terms of design modification and material change to improve brick casting efficiency and quality. The design modification was carried out on 3D CAD software platform. The mould for casting refractory brick was reconstructed with the developed CAD data. The mould was manufactured using FFF based 3D printing technology with thermoplastic polymer filament.

The printed mould further post processed to smooth print surface and an epoxy coating was applied on all the faces of all the parts so that castable does not stick and the moisture in castable does not come in direct contact to the mould surfaces.

All the four sides of the printed mould slide through the guide slots provided with base plate and fixed at the ends using wing screws. Similarly, both the central stock placed over the base plate and fixed together using counter shank screws from the bottom side of the base plate. All the screws to fix properly internally threaded heat inserts are placed at the companion part of the 3D printed mould.

The labeled isometric drawing of the developed mould for casting refractory bricks is shown in Figure 1. Two numbers of central stocks (2) are placed on the base plate (1) and screwed from underside of the base plate (1) for fixing firmly. Side walls with tongue (3, 4) and with groove (5, 6) placed on the base plate (1) by sliding through the guide slots in base plate. All the side walls screwed themselves with the wing screw (7) at both side for proper structural strength.

Testing the performance of 3D printed of Mould in refractory brick casting
All the components of the 3D printed mould were inspected individually in all respect and found okay. The mould was then tested for casting refractory bricks at Refractory lab of RDCIS, Ranchi with two different castable. First casting was carried out for Alumina Silicon carbide carbon castable and the second casting for high alumina castable. The mould filled with refractory materials was kept for about 24 hrs for curing. Both the casted refractory brick was found dimensionally acceptable and evaluated with acceptable brick quality. The process of casting and removal of cured refractory brick from the mould was smooth compared to the conventional wooden mould.

Usefulness of the Invention:
The manufacturing of moulds with complex configuration for non-metal application using FFF based 3D printing technologies is an innovative alternate method of reconstruction. This is easy, produce components on demand more accurately with minimum dimensional deviation and without disturbing ecological balance as compared to making moulds manually with woods.

Further, the 3D printed moulds were made off of Thermoplastic Polymer material and also epoxy coating was applied on all its faces which resulted a smooth texture sequel to easy removal of bricks.

The innovation of the proposed patent has already been successfully utilized and tested at Refractory Lab of RDCIS, Ranchi. The outcome of the innovation as tested is appreciable and can be implemented to similar applications all across the industries.

Industrial Applicability:
FFF based 3D printing technologies can be used as an innovative alternate manufacturing method for the construction of moulds with simple to complex configurations for non-metal applications. Further, the moulds can be manufactured with Thermoplastic Polymer material and applying epoxy coating on its faces.

Those skilled in the art will recognize other use cases, improvements, and modification to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and other use-cases are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.
, Claims:1. A manufacturing method for the construction of a 3D printed mould, the method comprises:
reverse engineering the wooden mould design;
modifying the design;
developing the 3D CAD model,
wherein the mould is constructed using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) based 3D printing technology.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is used for non-metal application.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 3D printed mould is made of Thermoplastic Polymer material.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an epoxy coating is applied on all the faces of mould.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the epoxy coating results in a smooth texture sequel to easy removal of bricks.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the 3D printed mould is designed with central stocks (2), side walls featuring tongue (3,4) and groove configurations (5,6), and wing screws (7) for structural strength.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein heat inserts with internal thread for fixing respective mould parts together using wing and counter shank screws.