Generation of casting molds by additive manufacturing

A processor implemented method of generating a casting mold, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a processor circuit, input data describing a 3D description of a desired casting shape;
• receiving input data describing at least one of thermal, mechanical, and material properties of a casting material;
• performing a 3D numerical simulation of a casting process to determine predicted spatially dependent cooling rates and mechanical properties of a casting resulting from the casting process, to thereby generate a 3D thermo-mechanical model of the casting process;
• determining locations for placement of adaptive features based on the 3D thermo-mechanical model;
• generating a 3D numerical specification for the casting mold that describes the desired casting shape and describes placement of the adaptive features;
• and
• controlling an additive manufacturing printer to perform a layer by layer 3D printing process to generate the casting mold based on the 3D numerical specification.

A system that generates a 3D numerical specification that provides instructions to an adaptive manufacturing printer to generate a casting mold, the system comprising:

• a processor circuit configured to perform operations comprising:
• receiving input data describing a 3D description of a desired casting shape;
• receiving input data describing at least one of thermal, mechanical, and material properties of a casting material;
• performing a 3D numerical simulation of a casting process to determine predicted spatially dependent cooling rates and mechanical properties of a casting resulting from the casting process, to thereby generate a 3D thermo-mechanical model of the casting process;
• determining locations for placement of adaptive features based on the 3D thermo-mechanical model;
• and
• generating the 3D numerical specification for the casting mold that describes the desired casting shape and describes placement of the adaptive features.

A processor implemented method of generating a 3D numerical specification that provides instructions to an adaptive manufacturing printer to generate a casting mold, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a processor circuit, input data describing a 3D description of a desired casting shape;
• receiving input data describing at least one of thermal, mechanical, and material properties of a casting material;
• performing a 3D numerical simulation of a casting process to determine predicted spatially dependent cooling rates and mechanical properties of a casting resulting from the casting process, to thereby generate a 3D thermo-mechanical model of the casting process;
• determining locations for placement of adaptive features based on the 3D thermo-mechanical model;
• and
• generating the 3D numerical specification for the casting mold that describes the desired casting shape and describes placement of the adaptive features.