KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATED CAE SYSTEM FOR CASTING PROCESS AND MOLDDESIGN

THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS TO SUPPORT THE MODERNIZATION OF THE PRECISION CASTING INDUSTRIES IN THE UNITED STATES BY PROVIDING KNOWLEDGE INTEGRATED COMPUTER AIDED ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING THE CYCLE-TIME FOR MOLD AND PROCESS DESIGN AND FOR REDUCING THE RATE OF REJECTION OF FINISHED CAST PRODUCTS. THE APPROACH IS TO MAKE USE OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED INTEGRATION AND PARALLEL COMPUTATION TECHNIQUES, WHICH HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED BY UES DURING THE LAST THREE YEARS, FOR (1) INTEGRATING EXISTING DATA BASES AND KNOWLEDGE WITH CAD/CAM/CAE TOOLS TO GUIDE THE DESIGNER IN DETERMINING KEY PROCESS AND DESIGN PARAMETERS. (2) SPEED UP PROCESS MODELING TECHNIQUES USED FOR OPTIMIZINGTHE DESIGN PROCEDURE. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL BE PRACTICAL, COST EFFECTIVE AND PROFITABLE IN THE VENDOR INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT. DURING PHASE I A FEASIBILITY STUDY WILL BE CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY THE IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY AND IN PHASE II A PROTOTYPE PRODUCT WILL BE DEVELOPED AND THE APPROACH WILL BEVALIDATED. THE PROTOTYPE PRODUCT WILL BE PRODUCTIZED AND IMPLEMENTED IN FOUR OR FIVE MAJOR FOUNDRIES IN THE UNITED STATES. TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS OF PHASE III, A CONSORTIUM OF FOUNDRIES WILL BE FORMED.