In 2010, Eagle Engineered Solutions introduced their rapid ceramic core making technology to the investment casting industry without the need for tooling or machining. Coupling Additive Manufacturing with tradional Ceramic Engineering methodologies this promising technology has continued to be accepted by the Investment Casting Industry for casting process development, prototype casting sand low volume casting applications.

Combining directly manufactured ceramic cores and patterns provides a powerful tool that allows OEM design engineers, foundry engineers and foundry managers the opportunity to select optimal core designs in advance of machining molds. Direct Cored patterns allow the foundry to present low volume casting solutions that were previously not considered due to expensive tooling requirements.

This paper will present the best applications for use in the OEM communities in Power Generation, Aircraft Engine and Pump/Valve markets who have embraced direct ceramic core manufacturing to develop low volume traditional designs and the future vision of manufacturing cored castings that can only be made using AM Cores will be examined.