Ceramic components for foundry industry

In general, ceramic components are obtained in shapes very close to the final ones. This is related with the high hardness of ceramics, which makes machining operations extremely difficult and very expensive. Considering this, a process that uses low cost raw ceramic materials was developed for rapid production of ceramic components in the final shape, which can be used in different foundry applications. A pattern, obtained with a rapid prototyping process, is used to construct a mould where a ceramic slurry is poured, which then suffers a sol–gel reaction in very short times. The part obtained is then sintered to improve the mechanical strength. Changing the sintering conditions, components with optimised bending strength can be obtained.