Investment casting

I) Background:
There are many methods of casting alloys, nevertheless, turbine blades are usually made by
investment casting method or otherwise known as lost-wax casting method. Investment casting
is one of the oldest casting methods there are, dating around 5000 years ago. It is preferred in
making turbine blades since the method can create casting with intricate details.
In order to increase the thermodynamics efficiency of the jet turbine engine, operating
temperature of the engine must be sufficiently high, especially in the high pressure turbine
section. A limiting factor is the operational temperature of turbine blades in that section, which
rotate at extremely high speed and endure high stresses and temperature. Thus, any increase in
the working temperature can adversely affect the service life of those blades. As a result,
engineers have designed the turbine blade such that cooling is done internally by adding holes
and passages inside the blade itself. The network of passages allows cool air to be pumped
through the center of the blade and escape through holes at the surface, covering the blade in
a film of cool air. Machining the internal cooling passages from a single block of alloy would
prove to be impossible. Therefore, investment casting is used to create the complete detailed
structure of the turbine blade.


II) Investment Casting Process:
The process has the following steps. First, a
wax model is created. This is done by injecting
molten wax into a master mould to solidify
around ceramic cores which will form the
cooling passages in the completed turbine
blade. Pinning wire is pressed through the
wax to butt against the ceramic core in the
model. Next, several models can connect with
replicas of runners and risers to form cluster
should several blades be casted at a time.
Then the investment shell is produced by
dipping the model in ceramic slurries of
alumina, silica, zirconium and other binding agents. Next, the model is covered with larger
particles of the same materials as the slurries. This operation is repeated a few time until the
investment shell reach the required thickness. After that, the shell is heated to melt away the
wax inside while leaving the ceramic core intact. Then, it is heated again to strengthen the
structure of the shell.

Precise positioning of the ceramic core and maintaining such position throughout the mould
preparation and casting process is required. However, the core have high length-to-diameter
ratio and therefore can only be poorly supported in the mould. To solve this problem, pinning
wires are employed to hold the ceramic core in place for the whole process. Typically, seven to
ten pins are used for a 2-inch thick turbine blade.

After the mould is preheated and degassed, it is ready to be poured with molten superalloy.
The pouring process happen in a vacuum at around 1500 degree Celsius. The cooling process is
then controlled meticulously to create the precise microstructures. The performance and
service life of the blade is largely determined by the grains structure. Blades used in the hottest
parts of the engine are usually made up of directionally solidified grain or single crystal for best
performance.
After the turbine blade solidifies, the investment shell is broken off. Then, the ceramic core is
taken out by chemical solution. The turbine blade then goes through some minor machining to
acquire its final shape.

III) Consideration of Investment Casting for Turbine Blades:
Investment casting can help to create the complex structure of the turbine blade with some
modification and techniques. It also reduces the need of machining after casting, which is more
difficult since turbine blade materials are usually superalloy. Moreover, investment casting has
high level of accuracy and can be done automated in some part. Therefore, despite its
complicated process and high cost of production, investment casting is suitable for
manufacturing of the complex structure of turbine blades.