A cost-effective approach for rapid manufacturing a low pressure wax injection mold with high surface finish and high dimensional accuracy

Investment casting process is considered as an economic method for mass production of metal parts. Improvement of mold surface quality and geometric accuracy in the fused deposition rapid tooling is a major concern. In this paper, a new technique is proposed for rapid manufacturing a low pressure wax injection mold with high surface finish and high dimensional accuracy. Wax patterns produced from this mold have not only better dimensional accuracy but also better surface finish. The average relative error of dimension of wax patterns can be reduced from 1.76% to 0.66%. Surface roughness improvement rate of wax patterns of up to 85.71% can be achieved. Advantages of this technique include low manufacturing cost, simple manufacturing process and flexible process capability.