Direct casting of Rapid Prototyping resins for luxury production: influence of burn-out and processing parameters on the final quality

Jewelry and fashion industry has shown and increasing interest towards Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques as an answer to several design challenges, both for the production of final components and as a tool in the traditional investment casting process. Even though RP allows the production of complex patterns to be used for direct casting this opportunity is not fully exploited at the moment, mainly due to a lack of knowledge on the material properties and proper processing conditions. Being the traditional investment casting process required to be adopted, studies have been conduct either to modify resin properties or to reconsider or adapt process parameters. The understanding of resins properties and their mutual relation with process conditions and materials is an additional critical aspect, representing the ideal starting point for the process optimization. Aim of this work is to focus on the use of RP resins in the luxury casting. Through the materials characterization and the analysis of their properties, the limits deriving investment and burn-out are identified and process criticisms overcome.