Utilização das tecnologias digitais e impressão 3D para inovação incremental na fabricação de cerâmica elétrica de uso industrial

Abstract

The subject of this study is a selector switch from a white line electric oven. This selector switch is produced using the injection process, and the material is bakelite. Bakelite is a thermosetting polymer whose mechanical recycling is technically unfeasible due to the impossibility of material fusion after curing. With the aim of assessing the feasibility of replacing both the process and the material, this study tested a material that serves the same function as bakelite and addresses these issues, namely, electrical porcelain. This type of porcelain, composed of clay, kaolin, feldspar, and quartz or alumina, has insulating properties and can be used for low or high voltage, depending on the percentage of components. In addition to this new material, a shift in the production process was also proposed, moving from injection to additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing involves the successive deposition of material layers in a predetermined shape, generated by a 3D geometry in CAD. To use the new manufacturing process, it was necessary to adapt the geometry by removing thin walls, suspended walls, and chamfers. During the manipulation of the porcelain mass, the significant thixotropic characteristic of the material was identified, which was confirmed through tests characterizing printing force, viscosity, and plasticity. An increase of 0.35% in solid concentration led to a decrease in plasticity from 5 to 2 in the range of 77.4% to 77.75% concentration. Consequently, the need for further tests was identified, involving variations in composition, the addition of a water-retaining component, and adjustments to printing parameters, aiming to find the optimal configuration for printing this geometry with the electrical porcelain mass.