Investment Casting

can make use of most metals, most commonly using bronze alloys, stainless steel,and tool steel. This process is beneficial for casting metals with highmelting temperatures that can not be molded in plaster or metal. Partsthat are typically made by investment casting include those withcomplex geometry such as turbine blades or firearm components.

Hightemperature applications are also common, which includes parts for theautomotive, aircraft, and military industries.

The process is generally used for ,but has produced complete aircraft door frames, steel castings of up to300 kg and aluminium castings of up to 30 kg. It is generally moreexpensive per unit than die casting or sand casting but with lowerequipment cost.

It can produce complicated shapes that would bedifficult or impossible with die casting, yet like that process, itrequires little surface finishing and only minor machining.

is used in the aerospace and power generation industries to produceturbine blades with complex shapes or cooling systems. Blades producedby investment casting can include single-crystal (SX), directionallysolidified (DS), or conventional equiaxed blades.

It is also widelyused by firearms manufacturers to fabricate firearm receivers,triggers, hammers, and other precision parts at low cost. Otherindustries that use standard investment-cast parts include military,medical, commercial and automotive.

offers high production rates, particularly for small or highly complexcomponents, and extremely good surface finish (CT4-CT6 class accuracyand Ra1.6-6.3 surface roughness) with very little machining. Thedrawbacks include the specialized equipment, costly refractories andbinders, many operations to make a mold, and occasional minute defects.