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 | 877-484-6776At Impro, we have top-of-the-line equipment for the most demanding investment casting requirements. Our equipment and automation process controls allow us to work with different ferrous and non-ferrous alloys, and maintain consistent and repeatable tolerances as close as ± 0.1 mm. Our investment castings are dimensionally and geometrically complex and produced to net shape, minimizing the need for secondary machining. Contact us today to learn more!
Lodestar Quality LLC
Lafayette, IN | 765-463-7455Founded in 2011, Lodestar Quality LLC is a knowledge-driven custom manufacturing solutions provider that provides manufacturers of products a full range of services from innovative design and engineering, to sourcing and production using best in class quality control methods in a cost efficient manner. Focus areas include fabrications, castings, machining and forging, plastic products, and mechatronics.
Aero Metals, Inc.
LaPorte, IN | 219-326-1976As one of the leading privately-owned metal investment cast foundries in the US, Aero Metals, Inc. provides complex cast metal parts to the world with precision investment castings. Since 1962, we’ve been helping customers in various industries achieve their goals by providing cast metal pre-production prototypes through fully finished part production and assembly of finished products.
Wisconsin Precision Casting Corporation
Lake Geneva, WI | 866-642-7307Wisconsin Precision Casting Corporation offers a broad range of advantages from engineering support, to alloy selection and to part size. Starting with your initial design through to your final product, Wisconsin Precision engineers will work with you to consistently exceed your requirements for service, quality, cost, and on-time delivery. Our alloy selection is one of the broadest in the industry that includes most non-ferrous and ferrous alloys. The size range for the components we make, range from of a couple ounces to 20x22x24” to fit most of your product needs.
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.