Method of fabricating an investment casting mold and slurry therefor

Abstract

A method of fabricating an investment casting mold includes using a zircon-containing slurry to form a facecoat of a refractory investment wall of a mold cavity in an investment casting mold. The zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, at least 70% of zircon powder. Also disclosed is a slurry for use in an investment casting mold. The slurry includes, by weight, at least 70% of zircon powder, 10%-30% of colloidal silica material, and 1%-10% of a carrier solvent. The method and slurry can be used to fabricate an investment casting mold that has a refractory investment wall with a facecoat having, by weight, at least 70% zircon.

Claims

1. A method for investment casting, the method comprising: casting a liquid nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy in an investment casting mold, the liquid nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy having a composition including at least one alloying element that is subject to reactive loss during the casting, the at least one alloying element including yttrium; limiting the loss of the alloying element from the composition by using a zircon-containing facecoat on a refractory investment wall of a refractory core in the investment casting mold, the facecoat contacting the liquid nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy during the casting, wherein prior to the casting, a zircon-containing slurry is used to form the facecoat, the zircon-containing slurry including, by weight, at least 70% of zircon powder; and after solidification of the nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy, removing the refractory investment wall from the solidified superalloy.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, 10%-30% colloidal silica.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the colloidal silica includes, by weight, about 1-15% of a polymer.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, 0.001-0.020% of an anti-foaming agent.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, 0.001-0.5% of a surfactant.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the zircon powder has a size of −325 mesh.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, no greater than 90% of the zircon powder.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the zircon-containing slurry includes, by weight, 1%-10% of a carrier solvent.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the zircon-containing slurry consists of the zircon powder, 10%-30% by weight of a colloidal silica material, and 1%-10% by weight of a carrier solvent.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising using the zircon-containing slurry to form another facecoat of another refractory investment wall of a refractory shell that surrounds a mold cavity of the investment casting mold.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the using of the zircon-containing slurry to form the facecoat includes applying the zircon-containing slurry on the refractory core, drying the zircon-containing slurry, and firing the zircon-containing slurry to form the facecoat.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facecoat consists of zircon and silica.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the facecoat comprises of zircon and silica.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The various features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.

(2) FIG. 1 illustrates an example investment mold.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of a refractory investment wall of the investment mold of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 pictorially illustrates a method of fabricating an investment casting mold.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) Articles can be cast in investment molds from a molten metallic alloy. One example class of alloys useful for gas turbine engine articles are superalloys. Superalloys are nickel- or cobalt-based alloys. When the alloy is in a molten state, alloy elements can react with the materials of the walls of a pourcup (used to pour the molten alloy into an investment mold), the walls of the investment mold, or both. The reaction results in the loss of the element or elements from the composition of the alloy. Element loss can reduce the alloy composition below required levels. Alternatively, a casting operator can add an additional amount of the element into the molten alloy to mitigate the loss, which can increase the complexity of the process and add cost. As will be described, the examples herein provide a slurry for fabricating an investment mold with a facecoat to reduce reactivity of elements in a molten alloy and limit element loss, which can reduce process complexity and reduce costs.

(6) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates selected portions of an example investment mold 20. In this example, the investment mold 20 is configured for casting a gas turbine engine article, such as an airfoil. It is to be understood, however, that the investment mold 20 is not limited to airfoils or gas turbine engine articles, and the examples herein will also benefit other kinds of investment cast articles.

(7) In the illustrated example, the investment mold 20 includes a mold cavity 22 that is generally surrounded by a refractory shell 24 (hereafter “shell 24”). A refractory core 26 (hereafter “core 26”) is situated within the mold cavity 22 and serves to form internal passages in the cast component. The shell 24 and the core 26 include refractory investment walls 28 that bound and define the mold cavity 22. As can be appreciated, some components may not have internal passages and may therefore not utilize the core 26. For example, the term “refractory” refers to a material that retains good strength at high temperatures (see also ASTM Volume 15.01 Refractories; Activated Carbon, Advanced Ceramics), such as above a temperature of 1,000° F. (811 K; 538° C.). In a further example, the refractory investment walls 28 are walls that, in the cast-ready state include, by weight, a total composition having a predominant amount of refractory material or materials, and in some examples 75% or greater, or 90% or greater, by weight of refractory material or materials. As can be further appreciated, the refractory investment walls 28 can be uni- or multi-layered.

(8) FIG. 2 illustrates a portion of one of the refractory investment walls 28, which can be in the refractory shell 24, in the refractory core 26 or both. The refractory investment wall 28 includes a facecoat 30 that at least partially bounds the mold cavity 22. In this regard, the facecoat 30 has at least one free surface 30a that is exposed to the mold cavity 22 and thus comes into direct contact with a molten metallic material during the investment casting process.

(9) The refractory investment wall 28 can also have one or more additional refractory layers, generally represented at 32, that back the facecoat 30 relative to the mold cavity 22. For example, the refractory layers 32 can include ceramic materials that are known for use in investment molds.

(10) The facecoat 30 includes, by weight, at least 70% zircon. Zircon has a chemical name of zirconium silicate or zirconium orthosilicate, and a chemical formula of ZrSiO.sub.4. The zircon of the facecoat 30 functions as a barrier to block loss of reactive elements from the molten metallic material during the investment casting process. For example, yttrium is one reactive element that is used in superalloy materials. Alloys that contain yttrium are challenging to investment cast because of the reactivity of yttrium with ceramic or oxide materials that are used in investment casting molds and pourcups. The zircon of the facecoat 30 is relatively unreactive with respect to the yttrium and thus reduces reactivity and loss of yttrium from the molten metallic material. The retained yttrium in the cast article subsequently can enhance oxidation resistance.

(11) FIG. 3 pictorially illustrates a non-limiting example of fabricating an investment casting mold that includes the zircon-containing facecoat 30. The method 40 includes using a zircon-containing slurry 42 to form the facecoat 30. The zircon-containing slurry 42 includes, by weight, at least 70%, and no more than 90%, of zircon powder. In one example, the zircon powder has a size of −325 mesh. The example size facilitates suspending the zircon particles in the slurry 42.

(12) In further examples, the zircon-containing slurry 42 includes, in addition to the zircon powder, 10%-30% by weight of a colloidal silica material and 1%-10% by weight of a carrier solvent. One example carrier solvent is deionized water. The colloidal silica material can include a polymer binder, an anti-foaming agent, and a surfactant. In one example, the colloidal silica includes 1-15 wt % of the polymer, and in a further example can include 3-6 wt %. Non-limiting examples of the polymer include HP Laytex or Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA). The colloidal silica material can also include 0.001%-0.020% of the anti-foaming agent. Non-limiting examples of the anti-foaming agent include Antifoam 60 or Burst RSD 10. The colloidal silica material can also include 0.001%-0.500% of the surfactant. Non-limiting examples of the surfactant include Antarox BL240 or Nalco-8815. In one further example, the colloidal silica has an average silica nanoparticle size of 1-50 nanometers. In further examples, the average silica nanoparticle size is about 7 nanometers, about 12 nanometers, or about 22 nanometers. In a further example, the zircon-containing slurry 42 includes only the zircon, colloidal silica material and carrier solvent.

(13) The zircon-containing slurry 42 can be applied to form at least a portion of the refractory investment wall 28. As an example, the facecoat 30 can be formed on the shell 24, the core 26, or both. For the shell 24, the zircon-containing slurry 42 can be applied to a wax or other fugitive pattern, represented at 44 in FIG. 3. Similarly, the zircon-containing slurry 42 could also be applied as a coating on the core 26. After application of the zircon-containing slurry 42, the slurry can be dried and fired to convert the slurry to the facecoat 30.

(14) Although a combination of features is shown in the illustrated examples, not all of them need to be combined to realize the benefits of various embodiments of this disclosure. In other words, a system designed according to an embodiment of this disclosure will not necessarily include all of the features shown in any one of the Figures or all of the portions schematically shown in the Figures. Moreover, selected features of one example embodiment may be combined with selected features of other example embodiments.

(15) The preceding description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed examples may become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not necessarily depart from the essence of this disclosure. The scope of legal protection given to this disclosure can only be determined by studying the following claims.