Stainless Steel Investment Casting

 

Machine Marvel through Steel Investment Casting

Machine manufacturing is a complex task at hand. While some machines may require fewer parts to build, most machines are made of several big and small components that are manufactured individually. These components are not made always made under the same roof, infact most of them are manufactured independently in different manufacturing plants, and then brought together under one roof and assembled to make one usable machine. Most of these machine parts are developed with a process called Steel Investment Casting.
Let us explore what steel investment casting really is all about.

Steel investment casting, or as popularly known, Precision Casting, Lost Wax Casting is a process of manufacturing in which molten metal, which is steel is poured into a mould to produce the required industrial component. Although very similar to other investment casting processes such as sand casting, die casting, etc. Considering the many benefits of steel investment casting, it makes it for a preferred choice for many machine manufacturers.
Steel Investment Casting involves various processes and steps until the final production of a component begins.

Step one: Pattern OR Tool Making

Pattern making is the very first step in steel investment casting. In order to achieve precision, tooling process is undertaken to achieve the exact pattern of the desired component. This process uses exact details as of the finished part, except it provides allowance for thermal contraction/shrinking. Patterns are typically made of wax using a metal injection die. Usually, steel investment casting manufacturers charge one-time pattern making or tooling cost from the clients during the sample making process, which is later on reused for final production process.

Step two: Pattern Mounting

A wax pattern making is a second step in steel investment casting. One creating patterns takes place. A wax pattern is made by injecting wax into the pattern, whereby a model is generated with exact dimension of the desired end product. This step is repeated for every wax pattern, which is later on assembled one by one onto the spruce to create a wax tree. Depending on the size and configuration of the desired end component, multiple wax patterns may be created using a single tree. The tree is then hung for drying at room temperature.

Step three: Ceramic Shell Coating

During the shell coating process of steel investment casting, the wax pattern assembly is dipped several times into ceramic slurry and coated with sand stucco, and allowed to dry. The process is repeated in a cycle until a desired thickness and strength is achieved. Then, the ceramic shell is finished and then put it into atmospherically-controlled environment until be dried. At last, it becomes strong enough to retain the molten metal during the final process of steel investment casting.

Step four: Wax Removal

The reason steel investment casting is also referred as Lost Wax Casting process, is because once the hard ceramic coating is formed, the next step in process requires steaming autoclave to melt away most of the wax. Majority of this wax is reusable. In case, of any wax reside that is left behind, it is burnt out in a furnace, thus what remains is the ceramic mould cavity of the desired end cast. 

Step five: Steel Investment Casting

After dewaxing is done, melted alloy, such as steel or aluminium, is poured into the ceramic cavity mould. Firstly, the created mould is heated to reach a specific temperature and then the hot lava like liquid is gently and carefully poured. The melted alloy immediately spreads across the spruce to take the desired shape of the final cast product. The liquid is then rested to cool in room temperature for some time. This is the most important step in the steel investment casting process. 

Step Six: Shell Removal

One of the last steps in steel investment casting is the removal of the ceramic shell to unveil the final end product. Once the cooling is done, the ceramic shell is broken, and the individual investment castings are cut from the spruce.
Once the cast is out of the shell, all the excess metal from casting is removed by grinding. The gates and runners are cut from the casting and some final steps of post-processing, such as grinding and machining, is undertaken to finish the cast. 

stainless steel investment casting is highly preferred way of producing casts than any other these.
One such steel casting company is, Sumangal Castings Pvt. Ltd., a leading service foundry since 1999 with services ranging from quality testing, customization, heat treatments to provide casting parts that fit well within the specifications through a process in which one disposable pattern creates one precise machine part. With manufacturers such as them, achieving high quality steel casts is as easy as it can get.