Unveiling the titanium integral space bus satellite by Planetary Resources in February 2014. The sacrificial mold for the
investment casting was 3D-printed with integral cable routing and toroidal propellant tank. From left: Peter Diamandis,Chris Lewicki,and Steve Jurvetson.
investment casting is used in the aerospace and power generation industries to produce turbine blades with complex shapes or cooling systems. Blades produced by
investment casting can include single-crystal (SX),directionally solidified (DS),or conventional equiaxed blades.
investment casting is also widely used by firearms manufacturers to fabricate firearm receivers,triggers,hammers,and other precision parts at low cost. Other industries that use standard investment-cast parts include military,medical,commercial and automotive.
With the increased availability of higher-resolution 3D printers,3D printing has begun to be used to make much larger sacrificial molds used in
investment casting. Planetary Resources has used the technique to print the mold for a new small satellite,which is then dipped in ceramic to form the investment cast for a titanium space bus with integral propellant tank and embedded cable routing.