Investment casting
Investment casting (known as lost-wax casting in art) is a process that has been practiced for thousands of years, with lost wax process being one of the oldest known metal forming techniques. From 5000 years ago, when bees wax formed the pattern, to today’s high technology waxes, refractory materials and specialist alloys, the castings ensure high quality components are produced with the key benefits of accuracy, repeatability, versatility and integrity.
Investment casting derives its name from the fact that the pattern is invested, or surrounded, with a refractory material. The wax patterns require extreme care for they are not strong enough to withstand forces encountered during the mold making. One advantage of investment casting it that the wax can be reused.
processes such as die casting or sand casting it can be an expensive process, however the components that can be produced using investment casting can incorporate intricate contours, and in most cases the components are cast near net shape, so requiring little or no rework once cast.
