Systems, devices, and/or methods for manufacturing castings

• US 9,206,309 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2013
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rtx Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mikro Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Appleby, Michael, Fraser, Iain, Paulus, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Watkins, III, William P
• Application Number:
  US13/944,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20130338267A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• Field of Search: 523/458
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4258 for detecting non x-ray radiation, e.g. gamma radiation A61B6/037 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B22C 9/04 Use of lost patterns
• CPC Class Codes: B22C 9/10 Cores; Manufacture or installation of cores breaker cores B22C9/084
• CPC Class Codes: B23P 15/246 Laminated dies
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 33/301 Modular mould systems [MMS], i.e. moulds built up by stacking mould elements, e.g. plates, blocks, rods B29C33/0088 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 33/38 characterised by the material or the manufacturing process B29C33/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 33/3835 Designing moulds, e.g. using CAD-CAM
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 63/00 Compositions of epoxy resins; Compositions of derivatives of epoxy resins
• CPC Class Codes: C08L 83/04 Polysiloxanes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/24479 including variation in thickness

Abstract

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a composition, system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, and/or user interface adapted for, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise, after removing a cast device from a stack-lamination-derived mold, said cast device formed from a molding composition, applying a desired shape to said cast device to form a shaped cast device, said molding composition comprising: a ceramic composition comprising silica; an cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition, said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition; a silicone composition comprising a siloxane resin, said silicone composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition; and a solvent composition adapted to dissolve said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition and said silicone composition.

Claims

1. An investment casting molding composition comprising:

a ceramic composition comprising a plurality of crystalline forms of silica, a first crystalline form of silica from the plurality of crystalline forms of silica being cristobalite in an amount greater than 2.5% and less than 10% by weight of the molding composition;

an cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition, said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition;

a silicone composition comprising a siloxane resin, said silicone composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition; and

a solvent composition configured to dissolve said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition and said silicone composition;

wherein;

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition is, after cross-linking and sintering, substantially carbon-free;

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition has a post-sintering apparent porosity of approximately 15 percent to approximately 35 percent.

2. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

said cristobalite is in an amount of approximately 6 percent to approximately 10 percent cristobalite by weight of said ceramic composition.

3. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

said ceramic composition comprises zircon.

4. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

said ceramic composition comprises alumina.

5. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition, after cross-linking and sintering, is structurally stable when in contact with molten metal at temperatures of approximately 2700 degrees F.

6. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

said cristobalite is in an amount of approximately 2.5 percent to approximately 6 percent cristobalite by weight of said ceramic composition.

7. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition is, after cross-linking and sintering, said molding composition is strong enough to retain its post-sintering shape during wax injection molding and metal casting.

8. The molding composition of claim 1, wherein:

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition is, after cross-linking and sintering, said molding composition is strong enough to retain its post-sintering shape during wax injection molding and metal casting and sufficiently weak to crush under loads associated with metal solidification.

9. An investment casting molding composition comprising:

a ceramic composition comprising a plurality of crystalline forms of silica;

an cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition, said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition;

a silicone composition comprising a siloxane resin, said silicone composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition; and

a solvent composition configured to dissolve said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition and said silicone composition;

wherein;

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition is, after cross-linking and sintering, substantially carbon-free;

components of said molding composition are selected such that said molding composition has a post-sintering apparent porosity of approximately 15 percent to approximately 35 percent.

10. An investment casting molding composition comprising:

a ceramic composition comprising a plurality of crystalline forms of silica, a first crystalline form of silica from the plurality of crystalline forms of silica being cristobalite in an amount greater than 2.5% and less than 10% by weight of the molding composition;

an cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition, said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition;

a silicone composition comprising a siloxane resin, said silicone composition present in said molding composition in an amount up to 30% by weight of said molding composition; and

a solvent composition configured to dissolve said cycloaliphatic epoxy binder composition and said silicone composition, components of said molding composition selected such that said molding composition, after cross-linking and sintering, is substantially carbon-free.