ADEFUYE ADEFOLABI OLUSEGUN

Mechanical Engineering

At the Mechanical Engineering department office

Appointment on Visitation important

Topic: Comparative Analysis Of Products And Process Of Conventional Pattern Making And 3D Printing Of Patterns For Sand Casting

Description: INTRODUCTIONPatterns are the tools used to create mold cavities in sand molds. Patterns are very important because defects in pattern directly results into defects on the castings. The complexity and accuracy of patterns that can be produced by a pattern maker depends to a large extent on his skills and the equipment he uses. The 3-dimensional 3D printer has produced in the foundry products both molds and patterns that will be very difficult if not impossible to make by conventional methods and that it did with remarkable accuracy. Also the lead time needed by pattern makers are usually rather long. The process of costing a pattern may not be related to its complexity, material consumption, skills and human effort required for its production. With 3D printing, the cost is systematic and the lead time is calculated before the job starts. However the material used by the 3D printer is not the same as the conventional materials Hard wood, soft wood, metals and resins used in conventional casting.AIM: the aim of this work is to produce a pattern of intermediate complexity by conventional method and 3D printing. The technical quality, accuracy,lead time , and cost of the products will be compared. Also the suitability of the material used in the 3D printing will be tested and compared with that of the conventional materials.Objectives i Production of a pattern of intermediate complexity by both conventional method and 3D printing noting, the lead time and Cost. ii The accuracy of the patterns will be determined using meterological techniques, surface roughness and draft will be determined using standard techniques and equipment. Castings will be produced to determine clarity of some characters. iii Test specimen for flexural strength will be produced from both the conventional pattern making materials and the 3D printing materials and the flexural strength determined.Methodology.An engineering drawing of the pattern will be given to both the conventional pattern maker and the 3D printing operator. lead time and cost will be recorded, Using standard equipment and procedure, the accuracy, surface roughness, draft, of the patterns will be determined. Castings will be produced to determine clarity of characxters. and Flexural strength of the materials will be determined. these results will be analysed to determine which iis the better of the two processes.Expected ResultsDue to differences in the materials and process, very different results from the two processes may be expected.Contribution To Knowledge/Society: To the best of the authors knowledge there exist no experiment like this or a similar one that has been carried out in Nigeria. If the results show that 3D printing is the superior process, then it will create new customers the foundries for the 3D printing operators, pattern makers may also train themselves on the use of the 3D printing machines and buy it thereby upgrading themselves. If the results indicate otherwise then no researcher need bother repeating the experiment which in itself is a contribution to knowledge.

#	Certificate	School	Year
1.	Ph.D (Metallurgy and Materials)	School of Metallurgy and Materials/University of Birmingham	1997

EFFECT OF ALUMINIUM OXIDE COVER ON THE PROPERTIES OF ALUMINIUM

Aluminium and its alloys are widely used in the engineering industry in fact they are only second to iron and steel in use. This is because of the good engineering properties of aluminium such as high corrosion resistant, good thermal and electric conductivity, ant its very high strength to mass ratio which has made it very popular in transportation industry.Aluminium and its alloys however has a rather low melting point of less than 8000C . Aluminium oxide however is very refractory and has a refractoriness of over 2000oC. The high corrosion resistance of aluminium is due to the protective film of Aluminium oxide that immediately forms on aluminium once it is exposed to air.There are ways now to produce films of aluminium oxide on aluminium , this can be done by anodizing or more recently by Plasme Electrolytic Oxidation PEO the interesting thing is that films of aluminium oxide forms by either process are very much attached to the aluminium and will not spall off it. At worst they may only crack.These project is going to investigate the properties of the different thickness of aluminium oxide on the thermal and mechanical properties of Aluminium. it is expected that aluminium oxide will form a heat shield for aluminium and make it useful at higher temperatures. It may be found useful in aero industry, both for military and civilian use.

ADEFUYE OLUSEGUN is a Associate Professor / Reader at the Department of Mechanical Engineering

ADEFUYE has a Ph.D in Metallurgy and Materials from School of Metallurgy and Materials/University of Birmingham