Exothermic welding systems and methods
OwnerNicholas J. Turner, Kevin Reape +1inventors
InventorsNicholas J. Turner, Kevin Reape, Thomas E. Bendlak
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Abstract
A method of producing exothermic welding systems includes providing a digital model of an exothermic welding container to an additive manufacturing system and forming the exothermic welding container using the additive manufacturing system. For a plurality of layers, the method includes depositing a layer of a base material with a shape based on the digital model and using a phenolic resin binder to fuse the layer of the base material in the shape provided to form a corresponding part of the exothermic welding container.
Claims20
A method of producing exothermic welding systems, the method comprising:
- providing a digital model of an exothermic welding container to an additive manufacturing system;
- forming the exothermic welding container using the additive manufacturing system by, for a plurality of layers:
- depositing a layer of a base material with a shape based on the digital model;
- and
- using a phenolic resin binder to fuse the layer of the base material in the shape provided to form a corresponding part of the exothermic welding container.
An exothermic welding system comprising:
- an exothermic welding container having a container body formed of a silica sand base material fused with a phenolic resin binder comprising furfuryl alcohol, the container body defining:
- a crucible chamber configured to receive weld material;
- a weld cavity positioned below the crucible chamber;
- a tap hole extending between the crucible chamber and the weld cavity;
- and
- at least one channel extending through the container body and into the weld cavity to receive a conductor.
A method of manufacturing an exothermic welding container, the method comprising:
- generating a digital model comprising a three-dimensional representation of the exothermic welding container, the digital model defining a crucible chamber, a weld cavity, a tap hole extending between the crucible chamber and the weld cavity, and at least one conductor channel;
- translating the digital model into a plurality of planar layers corresponding to successive cross-sections of the exothermic welding container;
- for each planar layer of the plurality of planar layers:
- depositing a base material onto a build surface, the base material including one or more of silica sand, ceramic fines, or graphite fines;
- and
- selectively applying a phenolic resin binder to a portion of the base material in a pattern corresponding to the planar layer, the phenolic resin binder fusing the portion of the base material to form a solid layer of the exothermic welding container;
- repeating the depositing and selectively applying for each successive planar layer until the exothermic welding container is formed as a unitary structure corresponding to the three-dimensional representation of the digital model;
- and
- removing unfused base material from the formed exothermic welding container.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.