Improved Manufacturing Technology for Investment Casting Cores

Gas turbine engine manufacturers seek to produce engines capable of operating at ever higher temperatures. One of the primary impediments to increasing operating temperature is the diminution of structural integrity that occurs in turbine airfoils at high temperature. This Phase II SBIR project will design, test and assess the manufacturability of an advanced film cooling airfoil facsimile (and embodied ceramic investment casting core) in a prototype investment casting foundry. Implementation of the most advanced film cooling designs requires investment casting cores of configurations that exceed the capability of conventional manufacturing technology. This project assembles an Integrated Product Team of industry-recognized experts to apply Mikro Systems’ Tomo Lithographic Molding (TLM™) process to the rapid and economical production of tools and prototype hardware whereby advanced designs can be empirically tested and optimized. This project will address Design for Manufacturability issues, core manufacturing process capability (quality and reliability), and affordability in a recurring production environment.