Ceramic Additive Manufacturing for Metal Castings

Additive manufacturing of integrally cored ceramic molds promises substantial cost savings and much shorter development cycles for the cooled blades and vanes of the high pressure turbine section of aircraft engines. AM directly prints the ceramic mold and core as a monolithic body, thereby eliminating the major steps of ceramic core and wax pattern fabrication. Based on a cost analysis conducted during the Phase I project, the cost savings include: lower cost per casting by replacing core and wax pattern fabrication with cored mold fabrication, large reduction in upfront tooling related costs, savings on core tooling replacement costs, and the potential to realize cast-in film cooling holes and avoid the cost of drilling. This Phase II project is structured with multiple casting trials demonstrating different airfoil designs. Candidate designs range from small with simple radial flow cooling schemes to larger and more complex serpentine schemes, to large multi-wall airfoils. Material and process development efforts are planned before each casting trial and root cause corrective action assessments will be conducted after each casting trial. The project culminates by re-evaluating the cost model developed in Phase I and assessing the benefits with the improved process.