Investment Casting - One Of The Oldest Metal Forming Technique

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The mold is placed in a inverted position and heated, which enables the wax that flow down to be accumulated for reuse. A specific temperature is maintained in the mold for pouring of the alloy and for assisting preserve the intricate casting designs. When the wax utterly melts out, the void space is choked with molten metal. Burnout process enables in chopping off the wax and gas-forming material formed in the mold.

Applications of Investment Casting
Jet propulsion for army and civilian aircrafts gave investment casting the foremost status in the casting industry. From heavy casting of 300Kg to small casting of 30 kg, this casting method is used for as large for hi-tech industrial applications. This process is more expensive than sand casting in terms of the casting tips, but the components are relatively cheaper. But still, investment casting is largely relied on for complicated designs that cannot be casted the usage of any other method. Investment casting finds widespread application in spacecraft, jet engines, etc. Though this industry is heavily depended on the aircraft industry, it is is find our new field of application to expand its horizon.

Advantages of Using Investment Casting
Produces impossible and complex designs
Less surface completing and machining required for the castings
Produces near net shaped as preferred by the customer
Casting have nice dimensional tolerances
A big variety of metals and high performance alloys may well be investment casted.

This Modern form of lost wax process was developed in some unspecified time in the future of wartimes when it was learned functional for many wartime needs. Later, with the enlargement of the civilian aircraft industry in the 1980's investment casting was largely in demand. Today, powered with progressive computer technology, robotics and progressive casting tips, 15% of the world's industrial casting is produced by investment casting method.

About Investment Casting Process
A pattern is made is wax and a wax gating system is one at a time arranged for investment casting. The pattern and gating system are assembled and dipped in a slurry of refractory coating material like tetra ethyl silicate, ethyl alcohol, hydrochloric acid, silica, magnesia, etc. The pattern is placed upside down and supported by flask. Now the molding mixture is poured around the pattern. The mold mixture is a combination of sand and and materials like alumina cement, ethyl silicate, etc.

Investment Casting
Investment casting frequently known as lost-wax casting is one of the oldest known metal forming process. This industrial process is generally used for small castings but is also used to construct aircraft engines, aircraft door frames, steel and aluminum castings. Investment casting process is known to produce complicated shapes that are hard to make with die casting. Though this process is a little expensive than die casting or sand casting process but is useful when it comes to creating intricate designs and complicated shapes.