Manufacture of centrifugal compressor impeller using FDM and investment casting

Centrifugal compressor impeller is one of the main parts in supercharger of the diesel engines to increase the engine power. Because the blade profile is complex and its thickness is generally thin as 0.7 similar to 2.0mm, it is important to ensure the precision for the enhancement of the quality of product. In order to prevent the formation of shrinkage defects, optimal gating systems were designed to examine the molten metal flow and solidification behavior during the pouring and solidification process. The optimal main parameters of casting process have been verified by experiment, and the rapid casting has been realized based on FDM-processed PolyCast (TM) pattern and investment casting. As a result, the processing time and costs reduced and casting quality enhanced in the foundry industry.