White Paper: Lost-Wax Casting

Lost wax casting, also known as investment casting, cire perdue, or precision casting, is a metal fabrication technique where a metal part is cast from an original sculpture. This process allows investment casting manufacturers to achieve intricate parts.

Accordingly, the lost wax casting is a casting method in which wax patterns are used to create a ceramic mold. The mold is then used to design the final piece. Lost wax casting has been used for years because it ensures precision when fabricating components with accurate tolerances. In the modern world, the lost wax casting is known as investment casting. This article focuses on everything you need to know about the lost wax casting process.

How Does Lost Wax Casting Work?

Lost wax casting foundries tend to have different techniques, though the process is always similar to every manufacturer. The lost wax casting process happens in seven phases, which start with creating the wax model and ending with the finished part. These stages include:

• Cutting an aluminum tool from a 3D CAD
• Designing a model from the tooling
• Assembling the wax on a tree
• Creating ceramic shell
• Dewaxing the shell by heating
• Pouring molten metal into the mold
• Breaking the ceramic shell off after the molten metal has solidified
• Cutting the metal part from the tree
• Grinding off the feed positions
• Inspecting or testing the finished piece

Metals Used In Lost Wax Casting

The lost wax casting process is a versatile casting technique because it can use a wide range of metals and metal alloys to produce high-quality parts. Examples of metals used in lost wax casting include:

• Aluminum alloys
• Stainless steel
• Carbon steel
• Nickel alloys
• Cobalt alloys
• Copper-based alloys

Lost Wax Casting Applications

Lost wax casting can be used to manufacture a wide range of metal parts. The precision of the process makes it suitable for producing metal components with thin walls, complex designs, and close tolerance.

Accordingly, the lost wax casting process is used in many industries, such as aerospace, medical, military, and automotive.

The process has been used for ages to manufacture various metal parts for these industries. For instance, the aerospace industry depends on lost wax casting to produce aerospace lost wax casting parts, such as jet engine components. In the automotive industry, the process is used to make gears and gearboxes.

The Advantages of Lost Wax Casting

The lost wax casting process has grown in use over the years. This is because of the many benefits of lost wax casting. For instance, the process is mainly used since it allows manufacturers the flexibility to produce parts with complex designs, forms, and shapes without the need for post-processes.

The advantages of lost wax casting include:

·       Smooth Surface Finish

The lost wax casting process uses molds made from a ceramic slurry. This means that the final piece does not possess any rough finish and can be shipped directly without post-processes.

·       Production Turnaround

One of the vital factors of any manufacturing process is the lead time. In this case, lost wax casting does not require any post-processes or machining on the final piece. This means that the lead time is greatly reduced. Accordingly, further handling and labor are also minimized.

·       Affordability

The initial investment involved in lost wax casting is usually on machinery. However, the process uses less costly equipment, which reduces the overall cost of production. This factor also makes lost wax casting less dangerous.

·       Close Tolerance

One of the most significant benefits of the lost wax casting process is that it ensures tight and precise tolerance. The process uses CAD designs that are more accurate and allow a tolerance standard of ± 0.005.

·       Wide Variety of Materials

Another factor that makes lost wax casting a popular casting process is that it can be used with a wide range of both ferrous and non-ferrous metal and metal alloys. The process gives lost wax casting manufacturers many options when manufacturing metal parts.

·       Size Range

The lost wax casting process has fewer limitations regarding the size of parts that can be manufactured. The components range from small dental implants to highly intricate jet engine parts. However, the size of a lost wax casting part depends on the mold handling equipment used.

·       Overall Production Cost

Since the lost wax casting process does not require post-process, it reduces the need for added human resources and costs. The labor cost is significantly reduced.

·       Waste

The lost wax casting process does not have any wastage. This is because all materials used in the manufacturing process are reused to eliminate wastage and reduce costs. Post-processes also lead to wastage since the removed parts are never reused. Since lost wax casting does not require post-processes, the wastage is kept at a minimum.

·       Environmental Factor

The lost wax casting process eliminates wastage by reusing resources. This factor means that no waste is dumped into landfills, which leads to environmental protection.

·       Design Complexity

The precision casting process allows manufacturers to achieve intricate designs, finer details, and complex shapes. This offers flexibility in terms of materials used and design complexities.

Additionally, all parts can be produced as a single unit without flash lines. This makes lost wax casting parts more durable and easy to assemble.

Key Takeaways

• Lost wax casting uses wax patterns to create the initial design of the desired component, which is produced in a ceramic mold.
• The lost wax casting process can be used to produce metal parts with intricate designs and shapes.
• The lost wax casting process can use a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and metal alloys.
• The lost wax casting process involves multiple stages.

This article has focused on the lost wax casting process, also known as precision casting or investment casting. This metal fabrication process has been used for ages due to its ability to produce components with a smooth surface finish and close tolerances. It is also worth noting that the process has shortcomings that may make other casting processes more suitable for various applications. However, the advantages of lost wax casting outweigh the disadvantages.