AEROSPACE CASTING & CERAMIC CORE TOOLING

Investment Casting Ceramic Core & Shell Thickness Calculator

Calculate ceramic shell slurry buildup thickness ($t_s$), green modulus of rupture (MOR), steam autoclave dewaxing hoop stress, and fused silica ceramic core tie-pin locations for superalloy turbine airfoils and precision investment cast components.

1. Input Parameters

Ceramic Shell Dip Coats (n)

Number of primary and backup slurry dipping and stucco sanding cycles.

Ceramic Core Thickness (t_c) [mm]

Internal silica/alumina core cross-section thickness.

Turbine Airfoil Blade Width (W_chord) [mm]

Steam Autoclave Dewax Pressure (P) [bar]

2. Calculation Results

Shell Wall Thickness (t_s)

0.0 mm

Shell Burst Strength

0.0 MPa

Wax Dewax Hoop Stress

0.0 MPa

Min Core Pin Diameter

0.0 mm

3. Geometric Visualizer

Tooling & Vector Prepress Engineering Notes

1. Shell Layer Buildup Kinetics: Total shell ceramic thickness follows $t_s = t_{\text{prime}} + k \cdot (n - 2)^{0.85}$ where primary slurry coats are ~0.4mm and backup coats add 0.8–1.2mm per dip.

2. Wax Expansion vs Autoclave Pressure: During rapid steam dewaxing, solid pattern wax expands 8–10% vol before melting. High autoclave steam pressure (8–10 bar within 4–7 seconds) compresses the wax outer boundary inward, preventing catastrophic ceramic shell bursting.

3. Core Support Pinning Vectors: Ceramic cores (fused silica or zircon) require precision Pt/Rh or stainless steel positioning pins (chaplets) located at neutral pressure nodes with clearance $\le 0.05\text{mm}$ to prevent core float during superalloy pouring.