This document discusses the manufacturing process of Formula 1 engine blocks. It begins by introducing the materials used, which is typically an aluminium alloy due to its low weight and heat conductivity properties. It then describes the sand 3D printing process used to create the molds for casting the engine blocks. Key steps include layering sand and a chemical binder to gradually build the mold, then pouring molten metal into the mold and controlling the cooling rate to achieve optimal material properties. Precision and reduced weight are advantages of this process over conventional sand casting. In conclusion, the sand printing method and use of aluminium alloy allows F1 engines to produce high power and RPM needed for racing.

1. BACHELOR OF MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY (SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT) WITH HONOURS
COURSE CODE: BJF 30023
COURSE NAME: MANFACTURING PROCESS 2
ASSIGNMENT PRESENTATION: F1 ENGINE BLOCK
NAME MATRIX NUMBER
MUHAMMAD AIMAN DARWISH BIN MOHD AZHAN 01BMS21F3035
LECTURER’S NAME: DR. AZHAR BIN ABDULLAH
MADAM HUSNI NAZRA BT ABU BAKAR

2. INTRODUCTION
 An engine block is a metal structure which is essentially the ‘rib cage’ of the engine and
houses some of the key components such as the cylinders and water jackets. The engine block
has to endure the most brutal temperatures and stresses found within a vehicle due to the
extreme nature of the combustion process.
 F1 engine completes 200 ignitions, with instantaneous gas temperatures reaching 2,600°C and
the consequent pressure forces equivalent to the weight of 4 elephants acting on each piston.
The Formula 1 engine can produce more power for their capacity than any other four-stroke
engines and can develop over 20,000rpm.

3. MATERIAL USED IN F1 ENGINE BLOCK
 Engine blocks are constructed using forged aluminium alloy.
 The benefit of using aluminium alloys is its low weight, this can reduce
the weight of the engine as well as in the vehicle. Aluminium alloy has
a better machinability properties compared with grey cast iron.

4. MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF F1 ENGINE BLOCK
 The method that will be used in making the F1 engine blocks are the Sand 3D Printing method.
 A sand 3D printer uses a working medium of sand-like materials, including actual silica sand
(95%).
 The technology is binder jetting, which uses a binder polymer to bind the particles together into
a physical 3D model. Silica sand products are available in a wide range of grades, including
extremely fine grades known as flours.
 For the fine ground silica powders, we can choose from 5 different grades from 5 to 40 micron
topsize. For precision ground silica powders, we can choose from 45-250 micron topsize.

5. Material Durability Weight Heat
Conducti
vity
Rust
Durability
Density
Cast Iron Strong Heavy High Prone to
Rusting
High
Aluminium
Alloy
Very
Strong
Light Very
High
Resistance
from
Rusting
Low

6. Similar to 3D printing, but instead of printing the part, the mold is printed instead. The
layer of chemical binder in between each layer are printed with 0.25 milimeter thick sand.
 The first step is to begin with a thin layer of sand. The printer head sprays binder on the
areas that will take shape of the mold. Then, another thin layer of sand is evenly
distributed on top of the previous printed layer and then the printer head sprays more
glue and gradually create the mold, slice by slice, layer by layer.
 By building the mold using this method not only it is faster, it allows us to have some
unique casting geometry that could not get in a typical casting process.

7. SAND PRINTING PROCESS
First of all, we must built
our 3D CAD model. This
is done by creating the 3D
image of the parts. Then,
the 3D image of the part
will be send to a company
that specializes in 3D
printer to manufacture it.

8. There are 2 ways which is done:
The binder gets sprayed from the printer
head at ambient temperature. Once the
part is finished it is already glazed
which makes it robust and suitable for
larger molds. For more intrigued cords,
we need a stiffer, more accurate sand.

9. • An infrared lamp in the printer heats the
layers of binder in between the sand to
initiate the curing process and evaporate off
any moisture before the parts are placed in a
microwave for their final cure.
• The sand has to be strong enough to
withstand the thermal loads of 700 ºC liquid
metal but also be weak enough to be shaken
out of the mold. When in contact with the
mold and metal, the sand would want to
expand by about 1%. Their precise tolerance
is that needed to be maintained.

10.  Once the mold is printed up, pour the liquid metal into the mold. During the pouring process,
the metal can splash around which introduces to turbulence in the liquid metal. When you have
a turbulence during the pouring process, the quality of the metal will be lesser quality once it
solidifies.
 The mold is filled from the bottom to the top. If the liquid metal were to pour from the top, it
will expose the metal to air more. It will block the metal molecules from binding properly.
During the pouring process, we want to minimize the amount of contact with air.
Start
from
Bottom
to Uphill

11.  When the liquid metal cools, it forms a solid and the rate at which it
cools is important because we want to achieve certain functional
properties out of that metal depending on how fast or slow it cools.
 Mold and metal solidifies by transferring heat to its surroundings,
which in this case is the sand. Certain areas of the casting can either be
insulated to keep the metal on its liquid state or placed next to a heat
sink that pulls the heat away, so the metal solidifies faster. By adding
heat sinks at various spots along the mold, we can precisely control the
rate of cooling.

12.  The combustion process is going to fatigue the engine blocks head, so if we cool that section of
the mold faster, it will create a smaller microstructure in the metal with smaller grains. The
smaller the grains are the better at minimizing the effects if fatigue due to the combustion
process.
 Once the part has been cast and has gone through a series of machining and heat treatments, it
will go straight to the CT scanner where a beam of X-rays is passed through the part and a line
detector builds up the images into a software program which reconstruct the images into a 3D
model of the actual part. Then, we take that 3D model and we overlay it with the CAD model
to verify if the casting came out correctly.

13. MOLD
Mold Component Sand used in Conventional
Sand Casting (kg)
Sand used in 3D
Printing (kg)
Sand saving (kg) Weight Saving
Percentage (%)
Cope 80 34 46 57.5
Cheek 113 40 73 64.6
Drag 108 25 83 76.85
Total 301 99 202 67.11
CORE
Core Component Sand used in Conventional
Sand Casting (kg)
Sand used in 3D
Printing (kg)
Sand saving (kg) Weight Saving
Percentage (%)
Main Core 2.8 3.3 4.4 57.14
Print Core 0.2
Dome Core 4.7
Total 7.7 3.3 4.4 57.14
CAST PUMP BOWL
Usage of Metal
Casting Weight (kg) Casting Weight (kg) Metal Saving (kg) Weight Saving
Percentage (%)
32 23.4 8.6 26.88

14. CONCLUSION
 As a conclusion, the F1 engine is widely made using the sand printing method due the time
taken for making the product. The time taken usually takes 3-5 working days compare to
conventional sand casting method that takes a week to month to complete the product.
 The cost for using the conventional sand casting method is more cheaper than sand printing
method. But the surface finish for using sand printing method is much more smoother than
conventional sand casting method.
 A good F1 engine blocks can produce high power and rotational per minute(rpm). To have
these features, material selection is important to determine the engine blocks power and rpm.
The uses of aluminium alloy for making the F1 engine blocks is because aluminium alloy is
stronger than cast iron, has high thermal conductivity, low density and low weight. Because of
its low density and weight, it can make the F1 engine blocks easier to produce power and rpm
thus can make the F1 car go faster and easy to accelerate.

15. REFERENCES
 Book :
1. Alexander Reikher, Michael R. Barkhudarov, “Casting: An Analytical Approach”, Manchester, United Kingdom (2007)
2. Saleem Hashmi, “Comprehensive Materials Processing 1st Edition” (2014), School of Mechanical and Manufacturing
Engineering, Dublin City University, Ireland
3. Joan Horvath, “Mastering 3D Printing”, California, United States of America
 Report:
1. Kip Woods, “Sand Distribution on Three Dimensional Sand Properties” (2018), University of Northern Iowa, United States of
America. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1547&context=etd
 Journal:
1. Meet Upadhyay, Tharmalingam Sivarupan and Mohamed EL Mansori, 3D Printing for Rapid Casting, “Journal of
Manufacturing Process”, Volume 29 (2017)

16.  Article:
1. Sumaiya Shahria, Md. Tariquzzaman, Md. Habibur Rahman, Md. Al Amin and Md. Abdur Rahman, Casting, Semi-Solid
Forming and Hot Metal Forming, “Optimization of Molding Sand Composition for Casting Al Alloy” (2017).
https://www.kuet.ac.bd/webportal/ppmv2/uploads/149508365210.11648.j.ijmea.20170503.13.pdf
2. Peter Zelinski, Sand Printing’s Side Benefit, 2 May 2014. https://www.additivemanufacturing.media/articles/sand-printings-
side-benefit
3. Doug Trinowski, Understanding 3D Sand Printers and Binder Technologies, 1 January 2019.
https://www.foundrymag.com/molds-cores/article/21931923/understanding-3d-sand-printers-and-binder-technologies
 Case Study:
1. Santosh Reddy Sama, Tomy Badamo and Guha P. Manogharan, Integrating 3D Sand-Printing Technology into the Production
Portfolio of a Sand-Casting Foundry 29 May 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40962-019-00340-1
2. Nishant Hawaldar and Jing Zhang, A Comparative Study of Fabrication of Sand Casting Mold Using Additive Manufacturing
and Conventional Process (2018).
https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/18964/Hawalder_2018_comparative.pdf?sequence=1

17.  Other Resources:
1. https://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/techexplained_formula1_engineblocks/#Molding
2. https://www.f1technical.net/articles/4
3. https://www.reade.com/products/silicon-dioxide-high-purity-sio2-silica-sand
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uChpwj1h6jM
5. http://newengineeringpractice.blogspot.com/2011/08/engine-block-manufacturing-process.html
6. https://shawresources.ca/what-is-silica-sand/
7. https://autotruckservice.org/2021/08/pros-and-cons-of-iron-and-aluminum-engine-blocks/