Turbine blade manufacturing through rapid tooling (RT) process and its quality inspection

Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies have played vital role in product development and validation. Another aspect of RP is Rapid Tooling. The development and manufacturing of conventional tools (die & molds) takes considerable amount of time towards production. Rapid Prototyping technologies could be used to shorten the development time of these tools. Rapid tooling is the process of manufacturing tool for customized and small batch production of a product. Some times it is also used as "reduced time to market" strategy as it has become vital for new products to reach the market as quickly as possible.In product development, time pressure has been a major factor in determining the direction of the development and success of a new product. This research work focuses on the development of turbine blade through RT technique. Three methods of Rapid Tooling techniques are considered here i.e. with Room Temperature Vulcanization (RTV) silicon mold, Polyurethane mold and Plaster mold. Master pattern was developed using Stereo lithography and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process. The quality inspection of both master patterns was done by using Coordinate Measuring Machine, in which the profile curves at different blade heights were inspected. The surface finishes of both the master patterns were analyzed using pertho meter surface tester. The SLA master pattern was selected and used for RTV, Polyurethane and Plaster mold. This selection was based on less deviation from CAD model of the turbine blade. The wax blades are then used for investment casting. Quality inspection was perfomed at prototype pattern, wax and metals stage of the product development.