Mold system including separable, variable mold portions for forming casting article for investment casting

A method of forming a casting article for investment casting, the casting article including a core surrounded by a solidified sacrificial material, the method comprising:

• additively manufacturing a plurality of separable mold portions for a mold for forming the casting article, the plurality of separable mold portions including a set of varied interchangeable versions of a selected separable mold portion, each varied interchangeable version of the selected separable mold portion configured to accommodate a different core of a plurality of varied cores;
• forming the mold about a selected core of the plurality of varied cores by coupling two or more mold-selected separable mold portions together, the mold-selected separable mold portions selected to accommodate the selected core of the plurality of varied cores, wherein the forming further includes positioning the selected core in the mold to form a space between an exterior surface of the selected core and an interior surface of the mold;
• casting the casting article by introducing a sacrificial material fluid into the space between the exterior surface of the selected core and the interior surface of the mold and about the exterior surface of the selected core, the sacrificial material fluid comprising a wax or a polymer, the sacrificial material fluid when solidified forming the sacrificial material about the selected core;
• coating the casting article with a ceramic material to form a ceramic mold for the investment casting;
• and
• wherein each separable mold portion includes a mold thermal conducting conduit therein configured to conduct a temperature controlled thermal fluid therethrough to control a temperature of at least the respective separable mold portion.