Definition

Investment casting is made by making a pattern using wax or some other material that can be melted away. This wax pattern is dipped in refractory slurry, which coats the wax pattern and forms a skin. This is dried and the process of dipping in the slurry and drying is repeated until a robust thickness is achieved. After this, the entire pattern is placed in an oven and the wax is melted away. This leads to a mold that can be filled with the molten metal.And investment casting also called lost wax casting.
China’s investment casting should be originated from Spring and Autumn Period. The copper parts that were excavated in NO.2 Chu tombs of Xichuan Henan province are known as the oldest lost wax casting parts.The parts were decorated with Curving flowers in four sides and flank.There are dozens of figures circle around.The complex sculptine and magnificent appearance reflect the excellent casting skill of this period. After that,the lost wax casting technology was popular in Suitang,even continue to Ming and Qing Dynasty.
The copper ware can be casted by this technology without any trail of spacer, and It is better to cast the hollow-out parts.The modern investment casting is developed from the traditional lost wax casting process.Although there are big differences between there two kinds of technology in wax,moulding, and processing technic,the principle of them is coincident.At the middle time of 40s, the engineer Austin got the inspiration from Chinese traditional casting technology, and he set up the system of modern investment casting.In 1955,Austin made the request that he created the thchnology for the first time, The Japanse scholar took exception according to the history of using lost wax casting method in China and Japan,and he won a lawsuit at last.

Application

The alloy sorts that can be produced by investment casting includes: carbon steel, alloy steel, heat-resisting alloy, stainless steel, precision alloy, permanent magnetic alloy, bearing alloy, copper alloy, aluminium alloy, titanium alloy, ductile cast iron and so on.

The shape of investment casting part is complex,the minimum diameter of hole that casted in the parts is 0.5mm, the minimum wall thickness is 0.3mm. The original scattered parts can be designed to a whole part by change the structure of components.Then it can be casted by fired mold.In this way, it can save the processing time and raw material,make the structure of components more standard than before.

The weight of investment casting part is between several grams to kilograms.Because it will be difficult to produce too heavy parts,so the investment technology is mainly used for miniature products.The progress of investment casting is complex and changeable.In addition,the material is expensive. Therefor,it is suitable for the products that have complex shape,high precision requirments,and difficult machinability.Such as the blade of turbocharged engine.

Jilong’s investment casting

Jilong adopts the advanced silica sol investment casting technology, imports the refractory material, concentrates on casting and machining the machinery parts of copper alloy,stainless steel,and other material.

Equipments and process