Directional Solidification Blade Casting Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Directional Solidification Blade Casting Patents: Who Leads and Where the Gaps Are
30.5% concentration at the top. The five leading assignees hold 885 of 2,903 records in scope — a filing base built by a small group of aerospace and casting specialists rather than a fragmented field. Filings peaked at 94 in 2017 and have not returned to that level, but the 2021-to-2024 window — the last stretch with a complete publication record — shows growth from 34 to 41 filings, up 21%. Years after 2024 are still filling in as publications catch up to filing dates.
- 1RTX CORP8.5%
- 2GENERAL ELECTRIC CO7.2%
- 3UNITED TECH CORP6.8%
- 4HOWMET CORPORATION4.4%
- 5ROLLS ROYCE PLC3.5%
See the full directional solidification blade casting analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on directional solidification blade casting patents
Who holds the most patents in directional solidification blade casting?
Filing is concentrated at the top: the five leading assignees together hold 885 of the 2,903 records in scope, or 30.5%, and the top ten hold 1,213, or 41.8%. The leading assignee alone holds 248 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 102. Beyond the top ten, filing activity spreads across a long tail of aerospace, materials science and academic entities each holding a small number of records.
What is the biggest patent claim area within this field?
Crystal growth process claims, classified under IPC C30B, appear on 44.6% of the 2,903 records in scope, ahead of metal casting claims (B22D) at 32.9%. Alloy composition (C22C) and foundry moulding (B22C) claims sit further behind at 17.6% and 16.7% respectively. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these figures do not sum to 100% and should be read as independent measures of claim density rather than as a breakdown of the whole field.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filings peaked in 2017 at 94 and have not returned to that level since, but the more recent complete window shows growth: filings rose from 34 in 2021 to 41 in 2024, an increase of 21%. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset will understate true filing activity and should not be read as a slowdown. The honest read is growth through the last fully settled year, not a declining trend.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Directional Solidification Blade Casting covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.