Investment Casting

Investment Casting: A good investment goes a long way

Investment casting is another popular casting process we specialize in. Our investment casting solutions ensure the delivery of high quality products that can fully meet all your requirements.

Metal casting is a complicated process with a lot of factors that may affect the final result. With Omnidex, you can rest assured that your project is in good hands. Our engineering team utilizes the latest technology to help you design the best investment casting solution, and supervises the entire production process in our sub-contractor’s facilities.

We have been working with a number of highly experienced foundries to offer different types of investment casting methods. You are no longer limited to the capacity and expertise of one foundry. We offer different core types (such as Waxless Cores, Soluble Wax Cores and Urea Wax Cores) and specialized waxes (including Low Temperature Wax, Medium Temperature Wax and Low Temperature Wax with Polymer additives) for you to choose from.

As experts in investment casting, we also offer a wide range of post-casting services, including machining (with CNC Lathe or CNC Milling), material testing (including tensile, hardness and elongation testing and more), pressure testing (we typically offer hydrostatic testing for hollow parts) and polymer impregnation (mainly for aluminium casting, where porosity may be an issue).

Learn more about Investment Casting

Investment casting sometimes referred to as lost wax casting, is one of the oldest metal-forming techniques, dating back as far as 2500 BC. The process originally employed beeswax and was used to produce detailed work in bronze, gold and copper.

The modern form of investment casting uses specialized waxes to make the molds. With the help of the latest technology, this process is able to create intricate forms, make undercuts, eliminate parting lines and produce castings with extremely tight dimensional tolerances.

Check out our video to learn more about the process steps:

Pros and cons of investment casting:

Pros

Offers many metal and alloy options
More freedom in the design of the parts
Relatively lower tooling cost
High dimensional accuracy with tight tolerances
Excellent as-cast surface finish with no parting lines
Reduced additional machining
Porosity is generally not a problem for investment casting

Cons

Longer production cycle
Higher manufacturing cost (due to die making, the use of specialised equipment and refractory material, and its labour-intensive nature)
Not recommended for parts with holes smaller than 1⁄16 of an inch (1.6 mm) or deeper than 1.5 times the diameter
Not a viable choice for small production runs (below 25 pieces)

Freedom of design

The use of wax patterns and one-time ceramic molds give a lot of flexibility to the design of investment cast parts. Wax patterns are relatively easy to make, allowing finer details on the final product, and can be attached to a wax runner system to create molds that can cast multiple parts at a time. The use of one-time ceramic shell molds (broken after use) may seems uneconomic at first glance, but this also enables the process to create intricate forms, make one-piece parts with undercuts, and eliminate parting lines and draft angles on castings.

Investment Casting Hallow Core:

Split mould investment castings:

Materials

This process is suitable for most ferrous and non-ferrous metals. For ferrous alloys, the most common materials are tool steel, carbon steel, alloy steels, ductile iron, and a range of stainless steel alloys. For non-ferrous metals, the process is suited for most of the copper-based metals, as well as magnesium and aluminium. It’s also possible to work with titanium and vanadium.

Common alloys for this method including:

Aluminum Alloys

Carbon Steel Alloys

Cobalt / High Nickel / Magnetic Steel Alloys

Copper-Based Alloys

Ductile Iron

Precipitation Hardened Steel Alloys

Stainless Steel 300/400 Series Alloys

Investment Casting materials_Stainless Steel 300 400 Series Alloys_metal casting_OmnidexCN

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Investment Casting materials_Stainless Steel 300 400 Series Alloys density_metal casting

Tool Steel Alloys

Investment Casting Tolerances

One of investment casting’s biggest advantages is the ability to produce parts with tolerances tighter than most other metal casting processes. Tolerances for investment casting may vary depending on the alloys used. Please note that tighter tolerances don’t always mean better, as it may have a negative impact on the production cost. We couldn’t stress more on the importance of setting tolerances as tight as necessary.
For your reference, below you may find the tolerances of investment casting alloys:

Our Products

Understand the strength of each process and choose the best solution

Compared to other processes, investment casting is more expensive and has a longer production cycle (making and drying the ceramic mold takes up a lot of time), but the per-unit cost decreases with larger production volume, and it is still cheaper than machining parts from bars of raw material. Its tighter tolerances, smooth as-cast finish and freedom of design also give it an edge over other casting processes, making the process ideal for producing small to medium-sized products with complex shapes. For these reasons, the investment casting process has become a popular choice among many industries.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions concerning investment casting or any other manufacturing processes. We are eager to discuss with you what we can offer. You can also check out our other casting processes and services on our website.

We are always ready to help with your latest project.

Contact our Customer Service and let us know how we can help to catapult your next project to success.

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