Refractory Metal Core Composite for Turbine Blade Complexity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional manufacturing techniques, such as investment casting and TOMO photolithography, face limitations in producing complex features due to the fragility of ceramic and refractory metal cores, which restrict the complexity and applicability of fabricated components in gas turbine engines and other applications.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the use of refractory metal cores (RMCs) fabricated through techniques like stamping, laser cutting, or additive manufacturing, combined with a ceramic slurry and binder, to create composite bodies that can be sintered and used to form complex features in components, such as turbine blades, by encapsulating the RMCs within a tool and injecting a slurry that hardens around them, allowing for the creation of multiwall components with enhanced strength and design freedom.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If ceramic cores are used in investment casting, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but the complexity of features that can be fabricated is limited due to fragility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining refractory metal cores with ceramic materials. The refractory metal core provides the necessary strength and ductility to fabricate complex features, while the ceramic material maintains the manufacturing simplicity and high-temperature resistance of traditional investment casting. This composite approach resolves the contradiction by allowing complex geometries to be achieved without sacrificing core reliability.
2Device complexity
If refractory metal cores are used to enable complex features, then feature complexity increases, but manufacturing cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The composite structure allows the use of refractory metal only for the core portion requiring strength and complexity, while the surrounding ceramic material provides the bulk structural function at lower cost. This selective application of expensive materials only where necessary reduces overall manufacturing cost while maintaining the ability to fabricate complex features.
Solution Approach 2:
The core is segmented into refractory metal regions for complex features and ceramic regions for simpler structural portions. This segmentation allows optimization of material usage, applying expensive refractory metal only where complex geometry is required rather than throughout the entire core structure.
3Strength
If traditional ceramic cores are used, then manufacturing process simplicity is maintained, but the strength and robustness of the core is insufficient for complex geometries
Solution Approach 1:
The composite core structure combines refractory metal's high strength and ductility with ceramic's manufacturing simplicity. The refractory metal core can be formed using conventional stamping or additive manufacturing techniques, maintaining process simplicity while achieving the strength necessary for complex geometries.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the fabrication of components with intricate three-dimensional features, providing enhanced cooling and weight savings, and overcoming the fragility limitations of traditional methods by producing robust, complex geometries that were previously unattainable.
Implementation Method 1
the composite body is sintered to generate a sintered composite body
Implementation Method 2
a binder material to attach to the refractory metal core
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2A
AI summary
Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a method comprising obtaining a refractory metal core (RMC), installing the RMC inside a tool, and subsequent to installing the RMC inside the tool, injecting a slurry into the tool to form a composite body from the RMC and the slurry. Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a composite body, comprising: a refractory metal core (RMC), and a slurry that at least partially encapsulates the RMC.