Titanium Aluminide Casting via Sequential Single-Mold Inversion
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing method for producing structural parts, such as turbine buckets or wheels, using titanium aluminide is time-consuming, personnel-intensive, and costly due to the need for manual creation of negative molds and excessive ceramic material usage, and is not suitable for all materials as it can lead to partial solidification during filling.
Innovation Solution
The method involves supplying shell molds individually to a casting apparatus, generating melts concurrently at the required time, and using a single-piece line concept where the melt is poured directly into the shell mold, reducing solidification time and material waste, and employing a compact facility with rapid melting and pouring processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple shell molds are combined into a tree structure for simultaneous casting, then productivity increases, but the quantity of ceramic material and casting material required increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The process is segmented into individual casting operations, with each shell mold being filled separately in a sequential manner rather than combining multiple molds into a single casting tree. This eliminates the need for excessive ceramic and casting material required for tree-structured multishell molds while maintaining production throughput through automated sequential processing.
2Quantity of substance
If a large quantity of material is melted and introduced into multishell molds, then the molds can be filled, but a large portion of the casting material is lost in the infeeds
Solution Approach 1:
The infeed channels are extracted and eliminated from the process. Each shell mold is filled directly without requiring extensive infeed networks, thereby removing the source of material waste that occurred in the tree-structured approach where material was lost in the infeeds.
3Ease of operation
If materials are transported through long infeed channels to individual shell molds, then all molds can be supplied, but partial solidification occurs during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The material transport process is accelerated and shortened. Each shell mold is filled directly and immediately from the melt source without prolonged transport through long channels. The sequential processing ensures material reaches each mold quickly before solidification can occur, maintaining material flow integrity.
4Ease of manufacture
If manual creation of negative molds is performed, then shell molds can be produced, but the process becomes time-consuming and personnel-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
Manual mechanical mold creation processes are replaced with automated systems. The patent employs automated shell mold production and automated sequential filling operations, eliminating the need for manual negative mold creation and significantly increasing production speed while maintaining ease of manufacture.
5Reliability
If a compact facility with short melt paths is used, then partial solidification is prevented, but the facility design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The facility is segmented into modular sequential stations, each handling a single shell mold filling operation. This modular approach achieves short melt paths by eliminating long transport channels while maintaining manageable design complexity through standardized, repeatable modular units that can be easily configured.
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 cost-effective mass production of structural parts by minimizing ceramic and casting material consumption, reducing reject rates, and allowing for efficient quality control, while maintaining the high heat resistance and light weight of titanium aluminide.
Implementation Method 1
a crucible with molten material is made available at a clocked rate
Implementation Method 2
the crucible and shell mold enclose a common cavity, and that subsequently the arrangement of crucible and shell mold is rotated about a horizontal axis by more than 90°
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method and to a device for sing out this method, during which the shell molds (3) are filled with a melt (11) in a clocked manner, the respectively required amount of melt being currently provided at the same time. The casting process ensues by marrying the crucible (6), which is filled with a melt (11), with a shell mold (3) so that the crucible (6) and shell mold (3) form a common cavity (10), and this arrangement is subsequently tilted 180°, so that the melt (11) falls into the shell mold (3).