A method for producing iron metal castings, wherein an expendable mold having a cavity for holding casting material is inserted into an opened multi-part permanent mold, the permanent mold is closed, the cavity is filled with casting material, wherein a supporting device partially protruding into the cavity is partially overcast, the expendable mold is cooled in the permanent mold after the filling, the permanent mold is opened during the cooling, after the liquidus temperature has been fallen below at the earliest, and the expendable mold is nondestructively removed from the permanent mold together with the casting, the expendable mold is further cooled together with the solidified casting while hanging on the supporting device, at least until the microstructure formation of the casting is concluded, the casting is demolded by removing the expendable mold.

A method is provided for making a mold for casting advanced turbine airfoils (e.g. gas turbine blade and vane castings) which can include complex internal and external air cooling features to improve efficiency of airfoil cooling during operation in the gas turbine hot gas stream. The method steps involve incorporating at least one fugitive insert in a ceramic material in a manner to form a core and at least a portion of an integral, cooperating mold wall wherein the core defines an internal cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil and the at least portion of the mold wall has an inner surface that defines an external cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil, selectively removing the fugitive insert, and incorporating the core and the at least portion of the integral, cooperating mold wall in a mold for receiving molten metal or alloy cast in the mold.

A method is provided for making a mold for casting advanced turbine airfoils (e.g. gas turbine blade and vane castings) which can include complex internal and external air cooling features to improve efficiency of airfoil cooling during operation in the gas turbine hot gas stream. The method steps involve incorporating at least one fugitive insert in a ceramic material in a manner to form a core and at least a portion of an integral, cooperating mold wall wherein the core defines an internal cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil and the at least portion of the mold wall has an inner surface that defines an external cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil, selectively removing the fugitive insert, and incorporating the core and the at least portion of the integral, cooperating mold wall in a mold for receiving molten metal or alloy cast in the mold.

The buoyancy transfer jig includes: a rod-shaped rod portion which is disposed extending from an outside of a pattern to an inside of a hollow portion by way of an opening portion which is formed in a foamed mold and makes the outside of the pattern and the hollow portion connected with each other, and is disposed in self hardening sand filled in the hollow portion and the opening portion; and a plate-shaped blade portion which is formed continuously with the rod portion and is disposed in the casting sand.

The buoyancy transfer jig includes: a rod-shaped rod portion which is disposed extending from an outside of a pattern to an inside of a hollow portion by way of an opening portion which is formed in a foamed mold and makes the outside of the pattern and the hollow portion connected with each other, and is disposed in self hardening sand filled in the hollow portion and the opening portion; and a plate-shaped blade portion which is formed continuously with the rod portion and is disposed in the casting sand.

An opening is provided in a foam pattern, and a coating agent is applied to the opening. The coating agent applied to the opening is taken as a beam having a sectional secondary moment I, a vertical plate thickness h, and a length L. It is assumed that a volume of a cavity part in the foam pattern is V (mm.sup.3), a bulk density of the casting sand filling the cavity part is ρs (kg/mm.sup.3), a density of the melt is ρm (kg/mm.sup.3), an angle of the opening with respect to a vertical direction is θ, and a transverse strength of the coating agent at the highest temperature during pouring of the melt is σb (MPa). A sectional shape of the opening, the angle θ of the opening, and the transverse strength σb of the coating agent are selected to satisfy the expression:

σbI>V(ρm−ρs){(hL/2)sin θ−cos θ}.

A method for casting an article comprises a first region and a second region. The method comprises casting an alloy in a shell, the shell having a casting core protruding from a first metal piece; and deshelling and decoring to remove the shell and core and leave the first region formed by the first piece and the second region formed by the casted alloy.

A method for casting an article comprises a first region and a second region. The method comprises casting an alloy in a shell, the shell having a casting core protruding from a first metal piece; and deshelling and decoring to remove the shell and core and leave the first region formed by the first piece and the second region formed by the casted alloy.

A method and apparatus for moving a mold in a molding machine, such as a matchplate molding machine. A lock element, preferably but not necessarily having at least 2 pieces, is movably mounted within a platen opening of a platen and within a pallet opening of a pallet. A second piece of the lock element can be fixed or secured with respect to the pallet, for example, to fix a position of a drag flask with respect to the pallet. An indexing device can be used to handle or move at least 2 molds with respect to the molding machine.

A gas turbine engine article includes an article wall that defines a cavity, a cooling passage network embedded between inner and outer portions of the article wall, and at least one conical passage through at least a portion of the inner portion of the article wall. The cooling passage network has an inlet orifice through the inner portion of the article wall to receive cooling air from the cavity, an outlet orifice through the outer portion of the article wall, and an intermediate region of passages that connects the inlet orifice to the outlet orifice. The conical passage has a first end that is proximate the cavity and a second end that opens at the intermediate region of passages.