RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

UKMP00100

THE EFFECTS OF GRAPHENE ON MICROWAVE

DEWAXED INVESTMENT CASTING

NAME : ADIBA RHAODAH ANDSALER (PKM183030)

LECTURER : PROF. DR OMAR BIN YAAKOB
OUTLINE
• Introduction
• Brief literature review
• Problem statement
• Research questions & Objectives
• Scope
• Expected outcomes
• Significance
• Methodology
• References
INTRODUCTION
• Investment casting provides high precision and good surface quality of
complex box-type parts and cavity structures (Li, Z. et al, 2019).
• The major disadvantages of traditional investment casting processes are
the long drying time, low temperature strength at room temperature, and
the poor ability to resist elevated temperature deformation after heat
treatment.
• The most important properties of investment casting molds are adequate
strength and permeability.
• The problems of long processing time, energy consumption and
environmental pollution can be reduced through the application of
microwave heating in the dewaxing process (Sarojani, P., 2018).
• Dewaxing is achieved through heating of the ceramic mold to melt the wax
pattern.
 Applications
of investment
casting
Impellers
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(www.chianseng.com)

Forging parts for military

Some of aerospace (www.indiamart.com)
investment casting
(www.precicast.com)
Recycling of Pattern Wax In The Investment Casting Process Using Microwave Dewaxing
(Rani, D., 2013).
(a) Pattern production, (b) Pattern assembly, (c) Investment, (d) Dewaxing, (e) Casting,
(f) Knock-out, (g) Cut-off, (h) Finishing & inspection
BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW
• The investment casting process involves pattern making, slurry
preparation, mold making, dewaxing, firing (preheating) and metal
casting (Mehrabi, H. et al, 2016).
• For quality casting, ceramic mold should fulfill the following
requirements; low thermal expansion, sufficient green mold strength,
sufficient fired mold strength, good gas permeability and cracks free
mold (Yahaya, B. et al, 2016).
• Thicker molds are stronger but less permeable, but thinner molds
show less strength with high permeability.
• One of the crucial processes of investment casting is dewaxing. This
involves melting out the wax pattern from a ceramic mold without
cracks and change in dimensional accuracy.
• There are 2 way of dewaxing process; autoclave method and flash
fired method.
• Lü, K. et al (2018) found that autoclave usually lower the green
strength of the ceramic mold.
• Flash fired furnace manage to overcome the autoclave problem but
this operating cost is very high (Li, Z. et al, 2019).
• Due to this problem, microwave energy in dewaxing was
investigated.
• Microwave heating involves direct deposition of electromagnetic
energy into materials, which is converted into heat within the material
in which results in rapid and volumetric heating that reduces thermal
gradients (Yahaya, B. et al, 2016).
PROBLEM STATEMENT

• In the autoclave dewaxing, ceramic mold-wax pattern assembly is

placed in the heating chamber of the autoclave. They are subjected
to steam at high temperature and pressure. The pattern wax is
usually contaminated by the steam condensate that also lowered the
green strength of the mold.
• Liang, X. et al (2017) used localized heating of the wax was
developed in order to reduce mold cracking during autoclave
dewaxing. In this method steam and surfactant are mixed, then
mixture was applied to a local area of the mold. This process has a
limitation of longer processing time, high cost and other constraints.
• Flash fired dewaxing is another dewaxing method. It involves heating
the investment casting molds assembly rapidly to around 1000oC using
conventional furnaces.
• The flash fired method induce less stress on the molds as compared to
autoclave and wax recovery is much easier. But its high energy
consumption remain one of the major problems (Freitag, L. et al, 2017).
• There were attempts on exploring the possibilities of using microwave
energy in dewaxing.
• Brum, F. J. B. et al (2009) and Rani, D. et al (2013) studied the
microwave energy in dewaxing only based on melting of the wax
blends without the ceramic molds.
• None of these researchers consider the presence of ceramic moulds
during the microwave heating process.
• Until today, there is an attempt made to improve the microwave
absorption of the molds which by Yahaya, B. (2016) where he used
activated charcoal as a microwave susceptor in dewaxing through
microwave hybrid heating.
• Investment casting molds should meet certain requirements for
quality casting. The most important of these requirements are an
adequate green strength, sufficiently fired strength and adequate
permeability. The green strength handles molds resistance to cracks
and damage during wax removal and handling. And the fired
strength gives the molds resistance to thermal shock and molten
metal weight.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS & OBJECTIVES

RESEARCH QUESTIONS OBJECTIVES

1. Graphene (as microwave susceptor) will be 1. To investigate the performance of
added to the coarse backup stucco as graphene as susceptor on the heating
microwave susceptor. How well the graphene uniformity of the investment casting
can interpret in microwave energy? ceramic molds via experimental.

2. The microwave power absorption and mold 2. To evaluate the effects of microwave
properties will be evaluated. Is the graphene heating and percentage of graphene
as susceptor can reduce dewaxing time and on modified ceramic molds properties.
energy consumption?

3. Are the porosity, permeability and 3. To evaluate the effects of graphene

collapsibility of the mold can be improve with contents on the microwave power loss
an increase in graphene content? density and thermal volume losses
distribution.
SCOPE
• The modification of investment casting molds will be made by mixing coarse
backup stucco with graphene in the range of 5-15%. A blend of
microcrystalline and paraffin wax will be used as a pattern.
• The dielectric properties of the molds and wax will be analyzed using
coaxial dielectric end probe. Thermal behavior of the molds will be
evaluated.
• The dewaxing test rig will be developed by modifying a domestic microwave
oven operating at a frequency of 2.45GHz and output power of 700W.
• Analysis of mechanical properties of the ceramic molds will be limited to
flexural and hoop strength only.
• Analysis of physical properties of the ceramic molds will be limited to
permeability, porosity, and density.
• Reliability analysis will be conducted on the standard unmodified molds and
modified molds that fulfil four criteria: adequate strength, absence of cracks,
uniform heat distribution, and shortest dewaxing time.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES

• The graphene as susceptor is expected to reduce dewaxing

time and energy consumption substantially in which also lead to
the rapid heating of the ceramic mold.
• Porosity, permeability and collapsibility of the mold is expected
to improve with an increase in graphene content.
• The rapid heating of the ceramic mold will melts the wax at the
wax-mold interface and will give room for the remaining wax to
expand during heating without mold cracking.
SIGNIFICANCE

• The graphene to be use as susceptor will enhance the microwave absorption

of the molds. The heating rate can reduce the chances of cracks and
manufacturing time.
• Space and energy consumption is expected to reduce since microwave
energy will be directly deposited and converted to heat in the molds. This
contributes to cost saving in the foundries.
• The modification of the mold will improve its permeability and collapsibility
and reduce casting defects.
• The effects of microwave radiation on the molds will be available for further
research.
• The study will contribute to the scientific knowledge on the potentials of
graphene as microwave susceptor for microwave hybrid dewaxing.
METHODOLOGY
• Consists of 2 stages.
• Stage 1: mold and pattern preparation.
• Stage 2: development and fabrication of dewaxing test rig.
 STAGE 1
MOLD AND PATTERN PREPARATION

WAX PATTERN DIPPING INTO THE SLURRY AND APPLICATION OF STUCCO

IN BETWEEN LAYER AND FINAL MOLDS DRYING

MICROWAVE MOULDS PROPERTIES TESTING

• DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
• THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
• SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY

NO IS THE MICROWAVE
ABSORPTION APPROPRIATE?
(I.E. LOSS FACTOR ≥ 10-2)
YES

GREEN MOULDS PROPERTIES TESTING

• DENSITY
• POROSITY
• FLEXURAL STRENGTH
CONTINUE
 STAGE 2
DEVELOPMENT AND FABRICATION OF
DEWAXING TEST RIG

MICROWAVE DEWAXING TEST:

TIME: 5-20 MINUTES
GRAPHENE CONTENT: 5-15%

NO PERCENTAGE OF
WAX MELTED
≥100%
YES
EVALUATION OF MICROWAVE DEWAXING PERFORMANCE:
• DEWAXING TIME
• TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION
• WAX PROPERTIES
• CRACK OBSERVATION ON CERAMIC MOULDS

FINAL VALIDATION TEST:

• FIRED MOULDS PROPERTIES
• ACTUAL MOULDS FIRING AND CASTING OF LM25
REFERENCES
• Rani, D. & Kaarunakar, D. B., 2013. ‘Recycling of pattern wax in the investment casting
process using microwave dewaxing’, IOSR Journal of Engineering, 3(5): p. 5-10.
• Brum, F. J. B., Amico, S. C., Vedana, I. & Spim Jr J. A., 2009. ‘Microwave dewaxing
applied to investment casting process’, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 209:
p. 3166-3171.
• Freitag, L., Schafföner, S., Lippert, N., Faßauer, C., Aneziris, C. G., Legner, C., & Klotz, U.
E., 2017. ‘Silica-free investment casting molds based on calcium zirconate’, Ceramics
International, 43(9), 6807–6814. doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.2017.02.098.
• Liang, X., Zhao, Y., Ma, D., Jia, Z., & Meng, X., 2017. ‘Study on the preparation and
microstructure of a single-crystal hollow turbine blade’, Materials and Manufacturing
Processes, 32(16), 1887–1892. doi:10.1080/10426914.2017.1291948.
• Li, Z., Liu, X., & Lv, K., 2019. ’Study on the Strength of Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced
Silicon Sol Shells for the Investment Casting Process’, International Journal of
Metalcasting. doi:10.1007/s40962-019-00362-9.
• Lü, K., Duan, Z., Liu, X., & Li, Y., 2018. ‘Effects of fibre length and mixing routes on fibre
reinforced shell for investment casting’, Ceramics International.doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.
2018.12.189.
• Mehrabi, H., Jolly, M. and Salonitis, K., 2016. Sustainable Investment Casting, 14th World
Conference in Investment Casting.
• Tewo, R. K., Rutto, H. L., Focke, W., Seodigeng, T., & Koech, L. K., 2018. ‘Formulations,
development and characterization techniques of investment casting patterns’, Reviews in
Chemical Engineering. doi:10.1515/revce-2017-0068.
• Pattnaik, S., 2018. ’Investigation on controlling the process parameters for improving the
quality of investment cast parts’, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences
and Engineering, 40(6). doi:10.1007/s40430-018-1246-x.
• Yahaya, B., Izman, S., Idris, M. H., & Dambatta, M. S., 2016. ‘Effects of activated
charcoal on physical and mechanical properties of microwave dewaxed investment
casting molds’, CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 13, 97–103.
doi:10.1016/j.cirpj.2016.01.002
• www.alibaba.com
• www.chianseng.com
• www.indiamart.com
• www.precicast.com