Tremendous progress has been made in the ability to quickly and inexpensively prototype investment castings and it has become a routine part of the development of new cast components. Unfortunately, little progress has been made in the ability to prototype cored investment casting. Until recently, no method existed to make prototype cores directly.

Over the past two years, Eagle Engineered Solutions has adapted the 3D printing process to create prototype ceramic cores for investment casting without tooling. 3D Proparts and Eagle undertook a study to determine how well the process works in combination with established direct pattern methods to prototype cored investment castings. Cores were used in combination with QuickCast, Voxeljet and MQAST direct patterns to create patterns with cores. The patterns were then cast at a number of investment foundries. The castings were then leached using conventional methods. The finished castings were evaluated to assess the viability of using this method to prototype cored castings. This paper presents the results of the study.