Morgan Advanced Materials (MTC) is offering ceramic cores made with its proprietary P-52 material, from its Certech manufacturing sites in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Ceramic cores produced with P-52 material exhibit greater dimensional accuracy while maintaining tight tolerances without distortion. They remain stable and rigid at high temperatures, making them ideal for use in investment casting of aerospace engine components.
The P-52 material does not prematurely deform, which is critical, given the extremely high temperatures required for super alloy engine component production. The cores can be chemically dissolved after the casting has cooled, leaving the clean air passage replica needed in today's efficient turbine engines.
MTC Certech developed a faster proprietary injection molding process that is used to create the ceramic cores, allowing high volumes to be manufactured in less time. Also, the process is much less abrasive on the molds used to produce cores, which increases their lifespan. Due to the high temperature stability characteristics exhibited by P-52, manufacturers can reduce or eliminate the use of costly platinum pins to hold the cores in place during the casting process, resulting in additional cost savings.
While dimensionally strong, the P-52 core material also exhibits improved crushability during solidification. It remains rigid and stable through the casting process, but is crushable when required during the metal solidification process. This is particularly useful for alloys that are prone to hot-tearing (in equiax castings and directionally solidified castings) and/or recrystallization (single crystal castings).
"P-52 cores have been qualified for use in numerous state-of-the art commercial and military aerospace engines," said Evan Reed, sales manager for MTC. "Customers using P-52 get both tight tolerances and extremely stable core properties. This facilitates thin wall castings, helping manufacturers hold dimensions that were not previously obtainable."