Corundum dissolution in concentrated sodium hydroxide solution

The corundum(α-alumina) core has been considered as a suitable candidate for investment casting of hollow, high pressure turbine engine airfoils due to its excellent properties. However, the efficiency of removing alumina cores in concentrated caustic solution cannot meet the needs of industrial production. In this paper, the effects of temperature and initial solution concentration on dissolution of α-alumina were studied by the classical weight-loss method. The fractal kinetic model was developed in order to describe α-alumina dissolution, assuming that the nonporous particles shrank during reaction process. The results show that the dissolution rate increases with increasing reaction temperature and initial solution concentration. Especially, the initial solution concentration has a significant influence on α-alumina dissolution rate at a higher reaction temperature. The activation energies decrease with increasing initial solution concentration, and the chemical reaction is the rate-controlling step.

Directional solidification casting technology of heavy-duty gas turbine blade with liquid metal cooling(LMC) process

In this work, some important factors such as ceramic shell strength, heat preservation temperature, standing time and withdrawal rate, which influence the formability of directionally solidified large-size blades of heavy-duty gas turbine with the liquid metal cooling(LMC) process, were studied through the method of microstructure analysis combining. The results show that the ceramic shell with medium strength(the high temperature flexural strength is 8 MPa, the flexural strength after thermal shock resistance is 12 MPa and the residual flexural strength is 20 MPa) can prevent the rupture and runout of the blade. The appropriate temperature(1,520 ℃ for upper region and 1,500 ℃ for lower region) of the heating furnace can eliminate the wide-angle grain boundary, the deviation of grain and the run-out caused by the shell crack. The holding time after pouring(3-5 min) can promote the growth of competitive grains and avoid a great deviation of columnar grains along the crystal orientation <001>, resulting in a straight and uniform grain structure. In addition, to avoid the formation of wrinkles and to ensure a smooth blade surface, the withdrawal rate should be no greater than the growth rate of grain. It is also found that the dendritic space of the blade decreases with the rise of solidification rate, and increases with the enlarging distance between the solidification position and the chill plate.

Properties of alumina-based ceramic cores

Fused corundum is a rather promising raw material for preparing an alumina-based ceramic core due to its excellent high temperature resistance and chemical inertness.In this study,alumina-based ceramic cores were prepared using fused corundum as the matrix material,and the effect of varying silica powder contents on the properties of the alumina-based ceramic cores,including the sintering shrinkage,the flexural strength,and the high temperature deformation was investigated.The mineralization mechanisms of the silica on the alumina-based ceramic core were also analyzed.The optimum addition amount of silica in this experiment is 8% in weight.At that moment,the aluminum-based core has both a low sintering shrinkage coefficient of 0.66% and better properties:the room temperature flexural strength is 22.19 MPa,the high temperature flexural strength is 21.54 MPa,the high temperature deformation is 0.93 mm,and the residual flexural strength is 47.41 MPa.