What are the Benefits of Investment Casting?
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What are Castings?
Modern manufacturing is carried out in many ways including different types of casting, such as:
- Die casting
- Sand casting
- Lost foam casting
- Forging
- Machining
- Precision castings or investment castings
It is the last type of casting – precision castings – where Texmo Blank’s core competency resides.
The term precision castings defines the process - when you require products to be precisely made, following exact dimensions, with a near-flawless finish – then you need to turn to precision castings. A wax pattern is used to create a ceramic mould in a specified pattern and then cast with molten metal. This ‘lost wax’ method results in high-quality castings with precise dimensions.
Benefits of Precision Castings
When compared to other methods of castings, precision castings have salient features and advantages. Here’s a brief look at a few key features of a few methods of castings in comparison with precision castings:
Investment Casting Benefits
| Investment Casting | Sand Casting | Die Casting | Lost Foam | Forging | Machining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can produce much more complex designs, incorporating design features such as logos | Parts are less complex | The parts produced are usually less complex | Limited complexity | Extremely limited component complexity | Can produce complex designs, but is limited in undercuts and internal geometries |
| Excellent surface finishes can be achieved | Poor surface finish | Excellent surface finish | Poorer surface finish (lines visible from foam) | Very poor surface finish with complete machining | Capable of the best surface finishes |
| Low-volume runs are more economical as tooling costs are lower. Scalable to very high volumes | High cost in large production runs | Tooling costs are far higher, only cost effective for large volumes | Processing costs are higher due to scrap costs, shell building, and pattern handling. Tooling cost is increased | Economical piece price if no post-processing required. Capable of high volumes. Tooling is expensive and consumable | Best suited for low to medium volumes when machining from bar stock |
| Can be used to cast a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys | Limited materials | More material limitations can’t be used for ferrous alloys | Limited materials | Alloy selection is somewhat limited | Fewer limitations, though certain alloys will be more challenging and costly |
| Parts require little machining after finishing | Poor surface finish and dimensional accuracy require more machining | Parts require minimal machining after finishing | Poor surface finish requires more machining | Due to poor surface finish and limited complexity, extreme amounts of machining are required | N/A |
So, why should you choose precision castings? Here are the top benefits of doing so:
Design Flexibility
Investment castings is a natural choice for extraordinarily complex designs. This method is perfect for designs with complex requirements of shape, size, thickness, and varied materials too. This flexibility extends to production methods, while multiple wax patterns can be used to make a unique mould.
Quality Finish
Precision castings results in almost-finished product. This reduces the need for investment of time and resources in added surface finishing processes. Dimensional precision and smooth finish mean that you can get a product that is almost 100% complete. And if you want more refinements, then further polishing can be done easily.
Material Benefits
The melted wax can be reused for other designs. Also, precision castings can work with a large list of materials such as:
- Carbon steels
- Low alloy steels
- Austenitic stainless steels
- Ferritic stainless steels
- Nickel alloys
- Cobalt alloys
- Bronze, aluminium and so on.
This means we can produce virtually any product for many industries.
Tighter Tolerances
Product tolerance is important because even tiny deviations from parameters can make a product worthless. Precision castings have tighter tolerances than other castings methods. Highly exact parts with tighter tolerances means that our customers do not have to worry about product specifications.
Precision castings offer the advantage of rapid prototyping, too. All of which means that you get to enjoy reliability, high-quality, and a commitment to time schedules when it comes to precision castings and the benefits they offer.
Further Information
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