Patent ID: 7681623

Claim:
A casting process, comprising: providing a casting mold defining a shape of a component comprising a thick-walled region with a wall thickness (b) of at least 200 mm; providing an unmelted solidification control element within a melt in the thick-walled region at a location subdividing a thickness of the thick walled region (b) into smaller contiguous thicknesses (b 1 and b 2 ), wherein the component is formed from the melt and the solidification control element is at least of a similar type of material as the melt and becomes part of an interior of the thick-walled region of the component, wherein the control element removes heat directly from interior melt present in the interior of the thick-walled region during cooling of the melt and is thereby effective to directly increase a rate of the cooling of the interior melt present in the thick-walled region of the melt to maintain a desired microstructure throughout the thickness of the thick-walled region of the component.