Investment casting

Valve for Nuclear Power Station produced using investment casting

Main article: Investment casting

Investment casting (known as lost-wax casting in art) is a process that has been practised for thousands of years, with the lost-wax process being one of the oldest known metal forming techniques. From 5000 years ago, when bees wax formed the pattern, to today’s high technology waxes, refractory materials and specialist alloys, the castings, ensure high-quality components are produced with the key benefits of accuracy, repeatability, versatility and integrity.

Investment casting derives its name from the fact that the pattern is invested, or surrounded, with a refractory material. The wax patterns require extreme care for they are not strong enough to withstand forces encountered during the mold making. One advantage of investment casting it that the wax can be reused.^[5]

The process is suitable for repeatable production of net shape components, from a variety of different metals and high performance alloys. Although generally used for small castings, this process has been used to produce complete aircraft door frames, with steel castings of up to 300 kg and aluminium castings of up to 30 kg. Compared to other casting processes such as die casting or sand casting, it can be an expensive process, however the components that can be produced using investment casting can incorporate intricate contours, and in most cases the components are cast near net shape, so requiring little or no rework once cast.

Why Use Trident Steels as Your Investment Castings Manufacturer and Supplier?

Trident Steels’ investment casting products have:

Superior Finish and Unmatched Appearance: We make use of wax and plastic investment castings as molds, to produce high-quality products with a finish and look unmatched by those manufactured using other methods, such as, welded assemblies and sand castings.

Flexibility and Versatility in Design: Since our process works with all the popular metal alloys, you have the freedom to choose from an incredible range of designs, without compromising on the strength and the quality of the finished products.

Furthermore, the range in designs available with this process is far more as compared to those available with die casting, forgings, machined components, brazed or welded assemblies, sand castings, and powered metal.

Cost-Effectiveness and are Energy-Saving: The ‘Near Net-Shape’ feature of our process not only reduces the labor costs involved and the amount of material waste generated, but it also provides engineers finished components from non-machined net shapes or difficult-to-machine alloys. Thus, this process enables material and energy conservation.

Reduced Scrap Rate and Longer Tool Life: We emphasize the use of dimensional precision investment castings, surface finishes, exact material specifications, and part or full elimination of machining and finishing operations. This process reduces scrap rate due to a) higher-integrity and b) closer-to-tolerance parts.

This process also promotes longer tool life in any machine operation due to a lower inclusion of minimal casting defects, design flexibility, and/or the ability to combine two parts into one casting. Tolerance of +/- 0.15 mm per 25 mm is the standard.