What is Investment Casting All About?
By Space Coast Daily // January 16, 2023
Investment casting is one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques and it is based on lost-wax casting.
Since it has been there for a long time ago, approximately 5000 years so in its earliest forms, beeswax was used to form the patterns for the casting process. Its roots trace back to ancient China and Egypt. In the modern world, more types of advanced waxes, specialist alloys, and refractory materials are used.
The Process Of Investment Casting
The investment casting process includes the following steps:
Step 1: Engineering Review
The first step starts with a Design For Manufacturing (DFM) review with the customer. It includes all the print dimensions.
Step 2: Mold Design & Build
This process includes the precision-engineered wax injection mold to produce wax patterns. The designs are discussed with the mold builder.
Step 3: Wax Pattern
The wax injection mold is brought to the wax room for injection and assembly and anywhere from one to 100 patterns are injected, placed, and glued to make a tree. The tree cluster is then sent to the dipping room.
Step 4: Ceramic Mold Construction
The wax tree is dipped into a ceramic slurry then coated in the sand to create the first layer and then dried. The process is repeated 6 to 8 times and dried in between the layers. This is also known as Investment as it creates a lamination effect. The shell is run through a drying system for 1-2 days.
Step 5: De-waxing
The wax is melted out of the ceramic tree by using steam in an autoclave. This is also called “lost wax casting”.
Step 6: Sintering
The ceramic tree is then stoked at a high temperature of around 1100 Celsius.
Step 7: Casting
The casting is removed from the metal tree once cooled. Once the tree is clean of ceramic the parts are removed from the gating system by liquid nitrogen or vibration.
Step 8: Finishing
The part’s gate is removed by machining post-cast operation or by grinding. Heat treatment is also given before machining, plating hardening is completed before the final inspection and shipping it off to the customer.
Why Select Cirex?
If you are looking for investment castings then Cirex is the place to be! Being one of the largest steel-casting companies in the world and situated in more than five countries, we produce complex castings and make sure that the precisions are up-to-the-mark.
Our engineers have the freedom to choose the materials and the product designs thanks to this technology. We make sure that all the castings are as per your demand and your exact wishes.
We opt for quality, reliability, and certainty and our casting processes include the characteristics such as a high degree of precision in dimensioning, the freedom of design and shape, possibilities of every steel alloy, a high surface quality, mechanical post-processing, and no-release angle requirement.
You can check us out on our website and request a quotation or information on the given details.
