Numerous college researchers at investment casting seminar
At its latest design to cost casting workshop in Bestwig TITAL welcomed numerous representatives from different renowned universities in Germany. The investment casting seminar is offered by TITAL at no cost for development engineers and designers from the aerospace industry. Philipp Jerusalem, Director Sales and Marketing at TITAL: "We attach great importance to discussing recent developments in optimizing parts during the workshop. We are a strongly R&D-driven company ourselves. Therefore we are always looking for a dialogue with science and research."
Often the interest developed during the investment casting seminar leads to a further exchange between TITAL and the participants. Usually there are detailed questions regarding the participants' own drawings or potential design solutions which were presented during the seminar. For TITAL this cooperation with colleges and universities is very familiar territory. In 2009 the investment casting specialist formed a research partnership with the affiliated institute ACCESS of the RWTH Aachen and other industry partners. In this case the aim of linking science and practice was to develop an efficient investment casting process for turbine blades made from the intermetallic alloy Gamma TiAl.
At the recently hosted investment casting seminar the participants gained an insight into the production of aluminum and titanium investment castings during a plant tour. During the seminar various ideas for potential cost savings through the use of integrally designed and ready for installation investment castings were illustrated. Additionally the two day seminar focused on the specific quality requirements for aerospace investment castings.
Another main seminar topic was the HERO-Premium-Casting®-process, a casting process for highly stressed aluminum parts for which TITAL owns the worldwide license. The fast product development in investment castings by utilizing the rapid prototyping process was also discussed by the group of experts.
The participants were especially impressed by the complexity of the investment casting process at TITAL. Philipp Jerusalem, Director Sales and Marketing at TITAL: "Often the participants of the investment casting seminar tell us about a light bulb moment. They see at our site how many production steps are necessary from the initial wax model to the concluding quality control." Thus they develop a deeper understanding for the complexity of the investment casting process and can develop a casting optimized part design more easily.
In order to receive a detailed evaluation of the seminar TITAL hands out a questionnaire to all participants that inquires about different quality features. The investment casting seminar repeatedly scored high marks.
The next German investment casting seminar will take place on October 26 and 27, 2010, and additionally at any time upon request. The next English investment casting seminar will take place on April 12 and 13, 2011. The latest update on the dates can be review at trade fairs. Interested parties can register themselves by contacting Katharina Dlhos, 0049 2904 981 160 or Katharina.Dlhos@tital.de.