A ceramic core facility is under construction in Tampa and slated to be operational by the first quarter of 2012. Chromalloyís new $5 million, 40,000-sq-ft facility will be built adjacent to its two-month-old, $30 million, 150,000-sq-ft industrial investment foundry. It will allow the company to pour up to one million pounds of superalloy turbine components and parts for aerospace, aero-derivative and industrial gas turbine engines. Ceramic cores are used in the investment casting process to form complex cooling passages within the components that are necessary to operate effectively in the hot and high-stress sections of gas turbine engines. Tom Trotter, v-p and general manager of Chromalloy Castings, told AIN, ìChromalloy is uniquely qualified to serve the entire value stream on turbine hot sections, including component design, tooling, new complex ceramic cores and high-tech castings, machining, world-class coatings and repair services. Chromalloy is the only company in the world with these capabilities and our new ceramic core facility provides even more capability to produce the entire range of high value, FAA-approved turbine blades and vanes.î