Additive Manufacturing for Cast-in Cooling of Advanced Propulsion Systems (AMCCAPS)

The Additive Manufacturing for Cast-in Cooling for Advanced Propulsion (AMCCAPS) program provides a quantitative demonstration of the performance of cast-in cooling holes relative to the conventional processes for such requirements.  Specifically AMCCAPS evaluates cast-in holes for  turbine engine castings in relation to those produced by EDM and laser drilling.  The concept of cast-in holes is significant both technically and for improvements in productivity.  Technically, cast-in holes enable cooling for components for which conventional drilling methods are highly impractical or impossible.  This is particularly true for small engines, such as those used for unmanned air systems, which are critical to meeting emerging threats.  From a productivity perspective, cast-in holes eliminate steps in the manufacturing process for engine components and enable the use of lower cost material, compared to uncooled applications.  By demonstrating that cast-in holes provide performance comparable to conventional methods, the technology can be adopted as a standard practice and applied to virtually any engine component that requires cooling.