Engineered Process Materials for Casting of Aerospace Components

ABSTRACT: The centerpiece of the proposal is the use of an innovative manufacturing technology developed by Mikro Systems, Inc. (Mikro) called Tomo-Lithographic-Molding (TOMOSM). The TOMO technology enables rapid and cost effective fabrication of tooling and production next generation components. It does so by leveraging the use of lithographic machining combined with traditional CNC tooling, a high-strength ceramic binder system, flexible conformal production tools, and a low-pressure ceramic casting process. The final products (cores and wax patterns) are produced using industry standard, foundry-ready materials and impose no disruption to the turbine supply chain. The technology also has the technical properties needed to produce an engineered integrated core and castings shell system. In Phase I, Mikro will apply the TOMO process to the design and production of an integrated core and shell system. It will formulate a design of experiments, produce and test the efficacy of the system, and define areas needing further optimization. In Phase II Mikro will translate the results from Phase I and leverage the design flexibility and manufacturing capabilities of TOMO to optimize an engineered core and shell solution. BENEFIT: Mikro"s innovative technologies will successfully integrate the casting core and shell into an engineered system which can optimize heat transfer and increase dimensional control of aerospace castings. This would enable an increase in design freedom for finer and thinner features that would dramatically improve airfoil designs (increase efficiency, reduce fuel consumption). The resulting system would also eliminate costly and time intensive production steps from the investment casting process (production cost savings, energy savings and surge capability benefit).