The Competitive Advantages of Investment Casting

Investment casting is a 5,000-year-old manufacturing process used to make complex parts from a wide range of materials in a broad array of sizes. The advantages of investment casting are particularly well-suited to aerospace and defense applications as well as other components that operate in extreme environments.

This article will review the overall process and outline the top nine investment casting benefits.

What Is Investment Casting?

Also called lost wax casting, investment casting relies on wax patterns to create molds. It involves these steps:

1. Wax is injected into a die, producing a pattern.
2. Wax patterns are fixed to a wax runner bar, creating an assembly called a "tree."
3. A ceramic shell is built up by repeatedly dipping the tree into a slurry.
4. The wax is melted out of the shell.
5. The ceramic shell is fired.
6. Molten metal is poured into the shell.
7. The shell is removed from the casting.

Bescast follows these steps to deliver a unique customer advantage.

1. Alloys and Materials

Chief among investment casting advantages is the flexibility offered by this metal casting method. Investment casting can accommodate the broad range of alloys and materials required by the most demanding applications. Steel, cobalt and nickel alloys are just some materials used in investment casting.

2. Part Size

This is another area where investment casting's flexibility shines. Investment casting can create parts ranging from less than an ounce to an 800-pound pour using air-melted alloy casting. Bescast investment castings can have up to a 26-inch diameter.

3. Tight Tolerances

Extremely tight tolerances are also among the primary advantages of this casting process. Because it offers tighter tolerances than other types of casting, investment casting is considered a precision casting process. It can create near-net shape parts.

4. Superior Finish

Hand-in-hand with tight tolerances is investment casting's ability to produce smooth, high-quality surfaces, with an average of 125 micro finish.

5. Less Machining

Because investment casting produces near-net shapes with a superior finish, parts require much less machining time than those created by other methods.

7. Faster Production

Since investment casting reduces the need for machining, assembling and other secondary processes, it allows for faster production times. As a result, investment casting is well-suited for rapid prototyping.

8. Affordable Tooling

Investment casting requires low-cost tooling, especially compared to gravity-die or high-pressure die casting. This also plays into investment casting's use for rapid prototyping.

9. Sustainability

Because it requires less machining, precision investment casting creates less waste than other casting methods. The melted wax can also be reused, helping to conserve the amount of materials used.