Investment casting is effective at producing complex and detailed parts that other methods cannot. There are no joints or flash lines because the part is made as one whole piece. Read More…
Leading Manufacturers
Ferralloy Inc.
Cleveland, OH | 440-250-1900For over 30 years, we have provided metal forged products for a wide variety of industries, including the aerospace, military, food service, medical, and automotive industries. Our customers know they can trust our forgings for quality and affordability. We will never try to make you pay more than you should for our products. Contact us by phone or email to find out more!
Rimer Enterprises, Inc.
Waterville, OH | 419-878-8156Since 1944 we have been driven to remain a cut above the competition in investment castings and everything we do. We have our own tooling shop filled with state-of-the-art testing machines. We ensure perfect results every time. It is our goal to establish lifelong relationships with our customers that benefit us both. Contact us for more info today!
Impro Industries USA, Inc.
Diamond Bar, CA | 877-484-6776We provide investment castings, plus sand, permanent mold, and low-pressure castings. We have manufactured castings as large as 200 pounds, 24" diameter or length. Alloys used: alloy steel, aluminum, brass, bronze, carbon steel, copper, ductile iron, gray iron, high-temperature alloys and stainless steel.
Pennsylvania Precision Cast Parts, Inc.
Lebanon, PA | 717-273-3338People seek us when they want steel investment castings. We produce parts weighing mere ounces up to 200 pounds. Customers' investment castings are done in exotic alloys, carbon steels and stainless steels. We've produced for the food processing, military and power generation industries.
Intercast
McAllen, TX | 956-688-6406To satisfy your needs in ferrous investment castings, you can rely on our ISO 9001:2008 certified facility. At Intercast, we can cast sizes ranging from ounces to 65 pounds and lead times are weeks, not months. Simple operations such as drilling and tapping can be done in house and machining sources are done in the US and Mexico. Contact us today for world-class investment castings.
Titanium Investment Casting - Ferralloy Inc.A variety of metal alloys may be used in the investment casting process, including titanium, aluminum, copper, and stainless steel which are some of the most common materials. Because a wax model is created in the exact size and shape as the part, investment casting, or wax casting, allows for high dimensional accuracy.
Titanium investment casting is expensive compared to other methods like die casting although it has lower equipment costs and requires less finishing. Investment casting can be done by hand in single or small batches or can be semi-automated and produce hundreds of parts at once.
Titanium Investment Casting - Ferralloy Inc.Castings can be as small as fractions of an inch thick to weighing 1,000 pounds though most parts are 15 pounds or less. Titanium castings are very strong and lightweight and are used for turbocharger components, industrial tools, and instruments and other applications in the defense, aerospace, transportation, power generation, marine, and medical industries.
The process of investment casting begins with a wax replica of the part that has been hand or machine carved or produced through injection molding. The wax pattern is attached to a sprue, or wax rod. Depending on the size and shape of the part, several hundred patterns may be attached to the same sprue resulting in an assembly called a tree.
The tree is dipped in a ceramic slurry called the investment. It is dipped multiple times in mixtures that are increasingly coarse. When the investment is thick enough on the wax pattern, it is left to dry. Another method is to place the tree in a flask and pour investment into the container until the tree is completely covered.
The use of a low-temperature oven or a vacuum can speed the process. Once dry, the tree is placed in an oven or furnace upside down to allow the melting wax to drip out. During the burnout phase, the investment shell is left to heat even more in order to completely eliminate any residual moisture or wax.
Molten titanium is poured in the space and may be drawn in using a vacuum, positive air pressure, or centrifugal casting procedures. Once the titanium part is cooled and hardened, the investment is removed through a variety of techniques including vibrations, hammers, a dissolving agent, or media-blasting.