Rapid, Low Cost Tooling for Small Turbine Engine Castings

Rapid, Low Cost Tooling

for

Small Turbine Engine Castings

ICI Conference & Expo 2021

Renaissance Services Inc., PERFECT-3D Division

September 8, 2021

All information contained herein © 2021 Renaissance Services Inc.

Outline/Agenda

◼ Program Overview

◼ Target Parts, Tooling, & Castings

◼ Tooling Selection/Design Guide

◼ Trade-Off Case Study

◼ Advanced Castings at Low Cost

◼ Summary and Q&A

Renaissance Services, PERFECT-3D Division - ICI Conference 2021 2

Program Overview

Renaissance Services, PERFECT-3D Division - ICI Conference 2021

Program Objectives

◼ “Prototype Low Cost Tooling for Castings”, LP-PLA-0020, US

Air Force Research Labs, Mr. David Lee & Dr. Jonathan Miller

◼ Develop and validate rapid, low-cost tooling approaches for

making the castings used in expendable and attritable

turbine engines

◼ Engage engine OEMs and casting suppliers to ensure that

requirements are being addressed and the innovative

approaches are capable of being adopted


Program Overview

◼ Objective is to significantly reduce the cost of castings used

in small turbine engines

◼ Focus is on engines for expendable & attritable aircraft –

150lbf to 1500lbf

◼ Specific emphasis is the cost of tooling used in making

investment castings of quantity less than 300

◼ Provided support and turbine component castings for the

USAF ROSE program


Target Parts, Tooling, & Castings


3. Housings/Cases

• Titanium• Steel

2. Impellers/Diffusers

• Aluminum• Titanium• Steel

1. Rotors/Stators

• Nickel• Steel

Small Turbojet Castings - Part Families

7Renaissance Services, PERFECT-3D Division - ICI Conference 2021

Integrally Bladed Rotor

Integrally Vaned Stator

IntegralVanes-Case

Compressor Impeller

Transition Case

Integrally Vaned Stator-Cooled

Integrated Compressor Case

Integral Vanes-Shroud

Target Parts/Castings


Candidate Tooling Approaches


1) 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds

1a. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds - Standard

1b. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds - Advanced

2) 3D-Printed Patterns

2a. 3D-Printed Patterns - Wax

2b. 3D-Printed Patterns - Thermoset

2c. 3D-Printed Patterns - Polycast

3) 3D-Printed Injection Dies

3a. 3D-Printed Injection Dies - Ceramics

3b. 3D-Printed Injection Dies - Assembly

4) Hybrid Injection Dies

4a. Hybrid Metal with 3D-Printed Inserts

5) Traditional Machined Metal Dies

5a. Machined Metal Dies

10

Inject WaxPatterns

Fire CeramicMold Tree

5. TraditionalMachined Dies

Coat Mold With Ceramic

AssembleWax Mold Tree

Pour HotMetal into Mold

Melt OutWax

MetalCasting

3. 3D-PrintedInjection Dies

4. Hybrid Injection Dies

Dies

2. 3D-PrintedPatterns

Patterns

1. 3D-PrintedCeramic Molds

Molds

Tooling Approaches & Casting Value Stream


11

Integrally Bladed Rotor (IBR) Mold

3D-Printing

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

• Define casting model• Define gating approach• Design ceramic mold

• Print 3 mold pieces• Fire & finish

• Assemble mold• Prepare for pour

Non-Recurring Per Casting

1. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds


12

3D-Printing IBR Wax Pattern

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

• Define casting model• Define gating approach

• Print 1 wax pattern• Finish wax

• Dip & Stucco mold• Dry the Shell

• Prepare autoclave• Melt wax

2. 3D-Printed Wax Patterns


IBR Wax PatternWax Injection

Ceramic AM Spacers

AM Injection Dies

3D-Printing Die Setup/Assembly

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

WaxInjection

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

• Define casting model• Define gating approach• Design ceramic spacers• Design injection dies

• Print 32 spacers• Fire & finish• Print 2 injection dies

• Insert spacers• Assemble mold

• Inject wax• Remove pattern



3. 3D-Printed Injection Dies


14

IBR Wax PatternWax Injection

AM Shape Inserts

3D-Printing Die Setup

Conventional Machining

Metal-Based ToolingWith Slides

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

WaxInjection

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing



• Define casting model• Define gating approach• Design machined base• Design shape inserts

• Machine base tool• Print 33 shape inserts

• Inject wax pattern• Remove pattern

• Assemble tool & slides

• Attach shape inserts

4. Alternative Hybrid Dies


OEM to Foundry - Digital Thread


• Gating Plan

• Casting Simulation• Casting defect

prediction

• Finishing Plan• Machining allowances

• Tooling Plan

• Injection Simulation• Injection defect

prediction

Casting

3D Models

Part

3D Models

Tooling

3D Models

Final inspection to this

model

Wax Pattern Model

Ceramic Mold Model

Ceramic Printing Mold Model • Ceramic mold model scaled

• (For Sintering shrink)

Casting Inspection to this

model

Pattern Inspection to this model

• Casting model scaled

• (for metal shrink during casting)

• Casting model scaled

• (for metal shrink during casting)

Green Inspection to this model

Fired Inspection to this model

Injection Die Model

Die inspection to this model

• Wax Pattern model scaled

• (for wax injection shrink)

Tool Inspection to one or

more of these ->

Variables Addressed During Program

◼ 6 Different Turbine Engine Parts

◼ 7 Different Casting Foundries

◼ 8 Different Metal Alloys

◼ 9 Different Tooling Methods/Variations

◼ 33 Demonstration Castings


Example 3D-Printed Ceramic Mold


3D Casting Model 3D Gated Mold Model 3D-Printed Ceramic Mold Nickel Casting

Example Castings Produced


Tooling

Selection/Design Guide


Casting Tooling Methods - Trade-Offs


Cost

Capabilities

Lead Time

Enable Selection and Design of Appropriate Low Cost Tooling Method

Tooling Selection/Design Guide - Summary


Compressor

Impeller

Integrated

Comp. Case

Tooling Method

1a. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds - Standard ☼

1b. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds - Advanced

2a. 3D-Printed Patterns - Wax ☼

2b. 3D-Printed Patterns - Thermoset ☼

2c. 3D-Printed Patterns - Polycast ☼

3a. 3D-Printed Injection Dies - Ceramics

3b. 3D-Printed Injection Dies - Assembly

4a. Alternative Hybrid Dies

5a. Traditional Machined Metal Dies

☼ - Tooling method used to produce demo casting Preferred MethodNote: All parts < 9" diameter Alternate Method

Potential Method; Additional Development Required

Part Type ->Part Type ->

Trade-Off Case StudyTrade-Off Case Study


• Compare cost, lead time, capabilities, & risk of the initial set of low-cost tooling technologies

▪ Establish the analysis in the context of the overall investment casting value stream

▪ Compare “apples-to-apples” by basing all the analyses on the USAF ROSE turbine casting

Tooling for Castings - Trade-Off Case Study


• Integrally Bladed Rotor (IBR) • 6” Diameter• Nickel Alloy

Tooling Design

1. 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

WaxInjection

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

WaxInjection

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

2. 3D-Printed Wax Patterns

3. 3D-Printed Injection Dies and Ceramic Spacers

4. Hybrid Injection Dies and 3D-Printed Shape Inserts

Non-Recurring

Per Casting

Tooling Design

Tooling Fabrication

Tooling Assembly

WaxInjection

Mold Dipping

Mold Dewaxing

Process Steps by Tooling Approach


5. Traditional Machined Metal Dies with Slides

Tooling Assembly

Performance Metric3D-Printed Ceramic Molds

3D-Printed Wax

Patterns

3D-Printed Injection

Dies

Hybrid Injection

Dies

Machined Metal Dies

Total $ Tooling to Pour 100 Castings $92K $131K $74K $140K $265K

Days to Get to Pour for First Casting 16 15 21 80 180

Unweighted score with higher number is better

25 23 21 25 31

Relative Maturity of the Technology, higher is better

5 7 3 3 8

Tool Tech

Cost

Lead Time

Capability

Risk

Total $ Tooling to Pour 100 Castings; lower is better

Days to Get to Pour for First Casting; lower is better

Unweighted score of technical capabilities; higher is better

Relative maturity based on MRL/TRL analysis; higher is better

Summary Performance Metrics


• A normalization of

the summary data

chart on 1 to 10

scale

• The taller the line,

the better the

performance

Performance Metrics – Column Chart


3D-Printed Ceramic Molds

3D-Printed Wax Patterns

3D-Printed Injection Dies

Hybrid Injection Dies

Machined Metal Dies

Summary of Cost vs Quantity


• For quantities < 100, 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds and 3D-Printed Wax Patterns are very viable approach

• For quantities > 1,000 and a fixed design, then Traditional Metal Dies are the way to go

• If quantities > 300 and only the airfoil contour is still evolving, Hybrid Injection Dies are good option

• 3D-Printed Injection Dies and Hybrid Injection Dies are still relatively new and higher risk

• If desire is for cooled IBR, 3D-Printed Ceramic Molds are the best path to accomplish this need

Summary Analysis for Selected Casting


Tooling Method Tooling Cost Lead Time

3D-Printed Ceramic Molds $92K 1 month

Traditional Metal Dies $265K 7 months For 100 IBR Castings

Advanced Castings at Low Cost


Integrally Vaned Turbine Stator with Cast-in Cooling Holes

Advanced Castings with Low Cost Tooling


Close-Up of Cooled Vane Ceramic Core CAD Model of Turbine Stator



Integral Vane Mold with Ceramic Core

Assembly of Vane Molds to Wax Hub



Integrally Vaned Turbine

Stator with Cast-in

Cooling Channels/Holes

Fraction of Cost vs

Traditional Methods

Initial Proof-of-Concept Casting

Summary and Q&A


Summary and Q&A

If Interested in Tooling Selection/Design Guide, Contact:

Rick Pressley

[email protected]


Rapid, Low Cost Tooling for Small Turbine Engine Castings

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