CA Investment Casting Process of Complex Castings

CA (Computer aided) investment casting technique used in superalloy castings of aerospace engine parts was presented. CA investment casting integrated computer application, RP (Rapid Prototyping) process, solidification simulation and investment casting process. It broke the bottle neck of making metal die. Solid model of complex parts were produced by UGII or other software, then translated into STL(Stereolithography) file, after RP process of SLS(Selective Laser Sintering), wax pattern used in investment casting can be acquired without metal die in short time. These can reduce period and cost greatly of complex superalloy parts development of engine. The key processes of CA investment casting were discussed. The accuracy of model translation should match that of RP system. Choice of RP material, surface polishing, sintering parameter plays important role in RP process. Other processes, like solidification simulating and optimization of gate system were introduced. The conclusion was that complex parts can be produced by CA investment casting with lots of advantages. The accuracy of castings can reach CT5～7,and the smoothness can get Ra3～13 mm. These parts of engines worked well.