Rapid fabrication method of pre-research turbine blade wax precision mould based on 3D printing technology

Aimed at solving the high cost and long manufacturing cycle of aircraft pre-research turbine blades, a rapid fabricating method for turbine blade based on stereolithography is proposed. Wax mold and its cooling structure are designed with reference to the structure characteristic of the turbines blades. The shell and the inner cooling channels of the mold are prepared by stereolithography, and alumina powder is filled into the cavity of the mold by gel-casting, which can realize the fabrication of the wax mold of turbine blade. Temperature field distribution of the wax mold is simulated with ANSYS and turbine blade's precision is investigated by using coordinate measuring machine. Result shows that the conformal cooling channels ameliorate the temperature field uniformity of the wax mold significantly, shorten the cooling time of the wax mold and improve the quality of the wax mold apparently. Accuracy of the wax mold reaches CT4-CT5 level with low surface roughness of R_a=4.97 μm, which shortens the pre-research cycle of metal turbine blades and reduces the manufacturing cost magnificently.