Chromalloy’s most recent development – a new ceramic core facility adjacent to the company’s investment casting foundry for turbine engine components in Tampa, Fla. – is under way and on schedule. “We’re on track to have the building completed during the third quarter of 2011,” said Gerald Dodds, Chromalloy Director of Ceramic Technology. “After completion of the core facility, equipment will be installed. The facility will go online during the fourth quarter and deliver cores in early 2012.”

The new 40,000-square-foot core facility foundation and flooring have been poured and the utility infrastructure has been installed. Builders are now prepping to construct the walls, Dodds said.

In February a groundbreaking was held at the facility site, which is adjacent to the company’s new 150,000-square-foot investment casting foundry. The foundry, which went online in late 2010, produces superalloy turbine engine vanes and blades.

Tom Trotter, Chromalloy Castings Vice President and General Manager, said, “The core facility will allow us to manufacture the ceramic cores that are an integral part of the investment casting process – thereby reducing the casting timeline and eliminating the company’s need to purchase cores elsewhere.”

Ceramic cores are used during the investment casting process to form complex cooling passages within the components, which are necessary to operate effectively in the hot and high-stress sections of gas turbine engines.

Chromalloy currently provides design, engineering, tooling, machining, repairs, coatings and cast parts for turbine engines in aerospace, aeroderivative and industrial gas turbine (IGT) applications. Customers include commercial airlines, the U.S. Air Force, power generation and offshore platform operators, and marine operators including the U.S. Navy and cruise lines.

The company’s state-of-the-art foundry in Tampa triples the company’s previous engine component production capability of superalloy turbine components and parts in Tampa.