Software developer Autodesk wanted something out of this world to show what its generative design software could do, so it teamed up with AFS Corporate Member TEI (Livonia, Michigan) to make a lightweight component for an interplanetary lander. The concept casting featured a hollow structure that is 25% lighter than similar structures made using conventional technology. TEI used 3D sand printing to make the mold components before filling it via a low-pressure casting process.

The 3D sand printing manufacturing process does not require any tooling, offers tremendous design and rigging freedom, and allows thin-wall, lightweight, complex designs with feature and part consolidations. Some of the complex designs are impossible to make with a conventional tooling approach.

Click here to see this full story as it appears in the March/April 2020 issue of Casting Source.