Additively Manufactured Tags for Cast Part Traceability Using Two-Dimensional Digital Code Direct-Part-Marking

Statistical quality control is applied in factories and foundries to identify special cause defects and to identify root causes through statistical correlation of process input variations to defects. A difficulty arises in associating process data collected with individual cast parts as they are worked through the foundry and out into the supply chain. Typically, alphanumeric labels for marking castings and manual identification of the castings with route-paper based tracing approaches have been used. Such manual based systems make root cause analysis of quality defect issues tedious. We here develop a semi-automated approach using 3D printed sand mold inserts shaped as 2D matrix codes which thereby permit directly cast identification code into the parts. This enables automated part tracking at the very beginning of the casting process including mold making. Automated scan-based tracking of parts through a foundry and subsequent supply chain allows for statistical process data collected to also be associated with each part processed with unique identification.