Investment casting is in a lot of ways similar to lost-wax casting and it is an old metal making process to duplicate the features of the original sculpture and then cast multiple identical metal parts that are an identical match to the sample metal part.Intricate detailing and designing are achieved successfully through the process.An original wax model similar to the sample metal part is made and then mild making is required.
An outer rigid mild is prepared by dipping the wax pattern in ceramic slurry plus sand-like stucco.Dipping in the slurry is repeated multiple times to attain the desired thickness of the shell.
This outer mild is the exact negative of the original wax pattern.This wax and mild assembly are spruced with a tree-like structure.
The shell-coated wax assembly gets hardened and then the wax is melted out of it by heating the assembly.The shell is cooled and tested to check if it contains any cracks in it, the cracks are filled with a thick paste.Reheating of the shell helps in removing traces of moisture from it.
Then the hot and melted metal is poured in the preheated shell carefully.
Benefits of Investment Casting:Faster Production- Investment castings cuts the labour time and increases the speed of production as it does not require much assembling after casting.Tight Tolerances- Investment castings have higher tolerance that reduces the amount of machining required.Smooth Finish- Mostly a ceramic mold is used in investment casting for a much smoother finish.Less Casting defects, improve quality- Investment casting provides good quality products without defects.Less Waste at competitive manufacturing cost- Investment casting needs less expensive apparatus which in turn keeps the costs low, also it requires very little machining that helps in minimizing material waste.Customizable size without quantity limitation- Investment casting allows both small and large quantities and cost is mostly same for both the cases.Reheating of the shell helps in removing traces of moisture from it.
