Investment mold with fugitive beads and method related thereto
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsMario Bochiechio, Charles R. Watson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An investment mold includes a mold cavity and a refractory investment wall that bounds at least a portion of the mold cavity. At least a portion of the refractory investment wall includes a plurality of fugitive beads. The fugitive beads can be sacrificed to provide voids that control the strength of the refractory investment wall such that the wall fractures at the voids during investment casting to alleviate stress on a solidified metal cast in the mold cavity.
Claims22
An investment mold comprising:
- a mold cavity;
- and
- a refractory investment wall bounding at least a portion of the mold cavity, at least a portion of the refractory investment wall including one or more layers comprising a plurality of fugitive beads, wherein the plurality of fugitive beads is non-uniformly dispersed in the one or more layers of the refractory investment wall, and a concentration of the fugitive beads is greater in the one or more layers of a first portion of the refractory investment wall than in the same layers of a second portion of the refractory investment wall, wherein the first portion is subjected to higher stresses during an investment casting process than the second portion.
A method of controlling strength of an investment mold, the method comprising:
- controlling strength of a refractory investment wall bounding at least a portion of a mold cavity by incorporating a plurality of fugitive beads in at least a portion of the refractory investment wall, such that a concentration of the fugitive beads is greater in one or more layers of a first portion of the mold cavity than in the same layers of a second portion of the mold cavity, wherein the first portion is subjected to higher stresses during an investment casting process than the second portion.
A method of investment casting, the method comprising:
- providing a molten metal into a mold cavity of an investment mold having a refractory investment wall bounding at least a portion of the mold cavity, at least a portion of the refractory investment wall including a plurality of fugitive beads in one or more layers, wherein a concentration of the fugitive beads is greater in the one or more layers of a first portion of the refractory investment wall than in the same layers of a second portion of the refractory investment wall, wherein the first portion is subjected to higher stresses during the investment casting than the second portion;
- sacrificing the plurality of fugitive beads to provide voids in the refractory investment wall;
- and
- solidifying the molten metal in the cavity, the solidifying producing a stress on the refractory investment wall such that the refractory investment wall fractures at the voids to alleviate stress on the solidified metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.