Rapid fabrication of alumina-based ceramic cores for gas turbine blades by stereolithography and gelcasting

Injection moulding is accepted as one of the most important methods for shaping complex ceramic cores, which are used to form intricate internal cooling passages of gas turbine blades. But the relatively long lead time and high costs involved in the fabrication of hard tooling render it uneconomical for new products development and low-volume production. In the study, a rapid prototyping process is developed to fabricate complex-shaped alumina-based ceramic core by combining stereolithography (SL) with gelcasting. SL is utilized to fabricate an integral sacrificial resin mold, and gelcasting is utilized to form a wet ceramic core green body through polymerization of aqueous ceramic slurry. The freeze-drying process is adopted to treat the wet green body surrounded by the resin mold, the drying shrinkage is decreased, and the generation of crack can be prevented. The sintering shrinkage of ceramic core is controlled by adding magnesium oxide power and developing a novel sintering process. After the resin mold is burnt out, the complex-shaped alumina-based ceramic core is obtained.