Take the guesswork out of Custom Manufacturing with CUSTOM QUOTES
Investment Casting Job Shops
Take the guesswork out of Custom Manufacturing with CUSTOM QUOTES
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ABOUT Investment Casting
Technology: Investment Casting Services are metal molding operations that produce metal forms using techniques known as lost-wax or lost-foam processes. Essentially, wax or other sacrificial material is molded in the shape of the final part. It is coated with a ceramic slurry, then melted out, producing a pourable form, or flask, that receives the molten metal. After the metal solidifies, the ceramic shell is broken away, revealing the finished parts.
Investment casting is a traditional jewelry making method but it has applications to a range of industrial parts including turbine blades. It can produce parts with complexities similar to that of die casting but at slower rates and is generally considered applicable where part runs are less than 10,000 pieces. Where die casting is usually limited to non-ferrous metals, investment casting readily handles steels and stainless steels.
The lost foam process is nearly identical to the lost wax process except the wax burn-out step is eliminated in lost foam; the foam remains in place during pouring and evaporates upon contact with the molten metal.
Advantages: Investment casting is able to handle exotic alloys used in harsh environments.
Capable of producing parts with zero draft angles
Wax patterns can be sprued to permit multiple parts from a single mold
Good application of rapid prototyping for pattern making
Better tooling life than die casting dies
No parting line
Investment Casting Limitations
Generally more expensive than sand casting or forging, but costs can be saved through minimal post cast maching
A pattern must be made for every part cast
Patterns, especially of foam, can be easily damaged and distorted
Applications: Investment casting can be used to make complex parts with internal geometries without the use of cores.