Directional Solidification Blade Casting Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
- 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.
- Crystal growth outweighs casting itself. C30B (crystal growth) appears on 44.6% of records, ahead of B22D metal casting at 32.9% — the claim pressure sits upstream of the mould as much as inside it.
- Filing has grown, not stalled. From 2021 to 2024 — the last year with a complete publication record — filings rose 34 to 41, up 21%, even as the 2017 peak of 94 remains unmatched.
Filing growth compares 2021 (34 records) with 2024 (41) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 2,903 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Directional solidification blade casting sits at the intersection of crystal growth control and investment casting engineering: seed crystals, grain selectors, ceramic shell moulds and withdrawal-rate control combine to produce single-crystal turbine blades that resist creep at high temperature. The search scope pulls records that name both the solidification mechanism (directional solidification, single-crystal casting, grain selector) and a defect or process control term (freckle defect, core shift, withdrawal rate, recrystallization, ceramic shell mould), so the corpus is deliberately narrow to process-and-defect claims rather than generic casting or generic crystal growth.
The 2,903 records in scope span 2015 through the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years understate actual filing activity; treat any apparent softening near the cut-off as a reporting artefact rather than a real slowdown.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 2,903-record corpus: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
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.
IPC subclass composition
C30B (crystal growth) leads at 44.6% of all 2,903 records, followed by B22D metal casting at 32.9%, C22C alloys at 17.6% and B22C foundry moulding at 16.7%. F01D turbine claims sit at 15.1%, and H01L semiconductor devices — reflecting single-crystal growth methods shared with semiconductor boule production — appear on 11.6% of records. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares sum to well over 100% and should be read independently, not against each other as a pie.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,903 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Directional Solidification Blade Casting with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about directional solidification blade casting and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing
US6497272B1 — Single crystal casting mold
A mold for single crystal casting of molten metallic material is provided having a metallic seed crystal with a passage in an end thereof and an end of a fugitive connector member inserted in the passage. Another end of the connector member is connected to a fugitive pattern. The assembled seed crystal, member, and pattern are invested in a ceramic shell mold so that the mold is invested directly against a side of the seed crystal.Filed by Howmet Corporation; granted 2002-12-24. A foundational seed-crystal-to-shell-mould assembly claim still cited across later grain-selector filings.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US7622367B1 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 1,135 |
| 2 | WO1999067435A1 | Directionally solidified casting with improved transverse stress rupture strength | 982 |
| 3 | US7557367B2 | Stretchable semiconductor elements and stretchable electrical circuits | 906 |
| 4 | US20060038182A1 | Stretchable semiconductor elements and stretchable electrical circuits | 523 |
| 5 | US7982296B2 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 415 |
| 6 | US8440546B2 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 349 |
| 7 | US8664699B2 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 342 |
| 8 | WO2005122285A2 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 302 |
| 9 | US20090294803A1 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling printable semiconductor elements | 271 |
| 10 | US20140227548A1 | Nanoparticles, Compositions, Manufacture and Applications | 268 |
Citation counts favour older filings in any searched corpus; treat them as a signal of past influence rather than of what matters today.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three read-outs from the concentration, composition and momentum data that matter for deciding where to file or challenge.
A small group set the claim baseline
The five leading assignees combined hold 885 of 2,903 records in scope, and the top ten hold 1,213, or 41.8%. That leaves a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants working around a claim base already staked out by aerospace primes and specialist casting houses.
Crystal growth claims outnumber casting claims
Nearly half of all records touch C30B crystal-growth claims, ahead of B22D metal-casting claims at under a third. Alloy composition (C22C, 17.6%) and foundry moulding (B22C, 16.7%) trail further behind, suggesting the densest prior art sits in how the crystal forms, not just how the mould is built.
Growth, read from the years that have settled
Filing counts rose from 34 in 2021 to 41 in 2024 — a 21% increase over that span, and the most recent period that can be treated as a complete publication record. The 2017 peak of 94 has not been matched since, but the underlying trend since 2021 is upward, not flat.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to directional solidification blade casting, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the ground, and where it thins out
Filing concentration sits with a handful of aerospace and casting specialists, but the sub-areas below show where claim density drops off.
A single filer well ahead of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 248 records, more than double the fifth-place holder's 102 — a gap wide enough to suggest a deliberate, sustained filing programme rather than opportunistic patenting.
A steep drop after the top five
Fifth place holds 102 records; tenth place holds 59. The curve flattens quickly after the leading group, which is where a newer entrant is more likely to find room to establish a defensible position.
Co-filing is limited and specific
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, with the strongest pairings linking a research arm to a materials or systems partner. This is a field where most filing is done solo rather than through joint ventures.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| United Technologies Corp | 0 | — |
| General Electric Co | 0 | -100% |
| Howmet Research Corporation | 0 | — |
| Raytheon Technologies Corp | 0 | — |
| Rolls-Royce plc | 0 | — |
| Silicor Materials Inc | 0 | — |
| Howmet Corporation | 0 | — |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | 0 | — |
Turning this landscape into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision
The trend and composition data point to where claim space is dense and where it thins out; the next step is testing a specific claim or design against it.
Check a draft claim against the seed-crystal and shell-mould base
US6497272B1 and the surrounding grain-selector art set a baseline for seed-to-shell assembly claims. Any new filing touching seed crystal insertion or fugitive pattern connectors should be checked against this baseline before drafting.
Explore the citation network in EurekaTest white space claims in the under-claimed sub-areas
Freckle defect suppression, core shift correction and grain selector geometry show activity without a dominant holder. A first claim drafted around a specific process parameter in these areas is less likely to collide with the concentrated top-five position.
Run a white space search in EurekaCommon questions on directional solidification blade casting patents
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.
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.
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.
US6497272B1, assigned to Howmet Corporation and granted in 2002, claims a mould assembly method where a metallic seed crystal is connected through a fugitive connector member to a fugitive pattern, with the whole assembly invested directly against the seed crystal inside a ceramic shell mould. It is a process and assembly patent, not a composition patent, so it constrains how the seed crystal is physically joined and invested rather than what alloy or crystal orientation is used. Anyone drafting a new seed-crystal-to-shell-mould joining method should check design-around options such as alternative connector geometries or non-fugitive interposers against this baseline.
The composition data shows dense claim coverage in crystal growth and general casting process, but the gate sub-areas — freckle defect suppression in wide-section blades, core shift correction during withdrawal, grain selector geometry for multi-crystal starters, ceramic shell mould permeability control and post-HIP recrystallization control — show filing activity without a single dominant holder. These are the more realistic entry points for a new filer, since a first claim tied to a specific process parameter in one of these areas is less likely to run directly into the concentrated top-five position.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.