What Is Investment Casting Used For?

Precision casting is one of the most common metal casting methods used today. Investment casting has many uses due to its innumerable benefits. For instance, investment casting components have countless advantages that make them attractive to an array of applications across different industries.

Investment casting offers the design flexibility you need for a more complex metal part. Additionally, the investment casting process is more straightforward. Therefore, it allows for a high production rate with consistent dimensional precision. These benefits, among others, make precision casting the most suitable casting method for many applications.

So, what is investment casting used for? This article helps you find out some of the most common applications of investment casting.

What Are Investment Casting Applications?

Investment casting is mainly used to produce detailed and more complex metal components in many industries. Accordingly, precision casting is primarily used due to its excellent surface finish in products. It also allows you to work with nearly all metals and metal alloys.

Investment casting applications are wide-ranging. For instance, investment casting manufacturers can produce almost every metal component that requires a precise surface finish and complex design.

Precision casting is used in almost every sector. For instance, the process is used in the food industry to manufacture kitchenware and food packaging equipment. The process is also used in medical, aerospace, and military fields to manufacturing different components. Additionally, the automotive industry relies on investment casting to manufacture parts such as gearbox casings, cylinder heads, and cylinder boxes.

Other industries that rely on investment casting include textile, agriculture, railroad, marine, mechanical, defense, and electronic.

What Are Investment Casting Products Examples?

As indicated above, investment casting is used in a wide range of applications cutting across different industrial sectors. This is primarily due to its efficiency and ability to produce more precise products with complex shapes and designs.

Some of the most common investment casting product examples include auto parts, surgical equipment, aerospace-grade engine airplane components.

Other products include investment casting glass clamps, precision casting food equipment, agricultural machinery, and many more.

When Is Investment Casting Used?

Investment casting is often used for various reasons. For instance, metal components with complex shapes and designs and require high precision, cast integrity, and repeatability can only be produced using investment casting. The process is also used to make a wide range of metal parts for many industries, including oil and gas, automotive, aerospace, and general industrial applications.

However, considering that every project is always unique and the fact no solution fits everything, you should treat every application differently. This means that investment casting may not be suitable for all your projects.

Therefore, when should you use investment casting? Here are some everyday situations that may require precision casting.

· When Working On A Project That Requires Medium to High Production Rate

Precision casting is often most suitable if you want to manufacture the same component repeatedly. This is mainly because the process offer consistency and repeatability since the tools used in the process are often recycled. Additionally, investment casting is capable of producing a high volume of metal parts. This method saves more time and costs since it does not require post-processes.

· When You Need High Accurate Components

Are you looking for high-precision parts? Investment casting offers the best option for high-quality products with a precise finish. Investment casting parts feature excellent dimensional accuracy.

The process is also capable of producing parts with complex shapes and designs. With investment casting, you can add more details to your products, such as holes and graphics, to meet customer requirements.

Accordingly, Investment casting has high tolerances that meet various product requirements and needs.

· When You Need Products in a Wide Range of Sizes

Many industrial applications may require different sizes of the same product. With investment casting, you can obtain various parts in different sizes. However, there is a limit that you cannot exceed when it comes to investment casting products. This is mainly because precision casting requires wax patterns that are secured by dipping in a ceramic slurry.

· When You Need a Wide Range of Materials

Investment casting can produce different metal parts using a wide range of metals and metal alloys. Accordingly, you can get metal components in ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Therefore, precision casting offers an array of material options than any other casting method.

With investment casting, you can produce metal parts using aluminum, stainless steel, and copper, nickel, and bronze alloys. Additionally, investment casting makes it more manageable to cast alloys that may not be possible with other machining methods.

· When You Need Excellent Surface Finish

Among the reasons why people use precision casting more than any other method is because it offers a smooth surface finish. This feature is often required in many industries, such as manufacturing investment casting surgical equipment.

Additionally, the aerospace industry requires high precision and more refined surface quality in airplane engine parts. The same can be said about firearm components. The nature of these applications makes it suitable to use investment casting alone.

More intricate designs may also be a challenge to produce using machining processes. In this case, investment casting is used to achieve the finer details.

· When You Need To Lower the Overall Cost Of Production

There is no denying that investment casting can be more expensive than other methods since it requires costly tools to produce high dimensional accuracy and a more delicate finish. However, the overall cost of production tends to decrease with the volume of production.

Investment casting can achieve complex designs without wastage since the process does not require post-processes and machining on the final product.

Since the process eliminates the need for secondary tooling, it reduces costs to save you money and time.

The Bottom Line

Investment casting or precision casting is used to manufacture metal parts with complex shapes and designs, thinner walls, excellent surface finish, and tighter tolerance. This means that investment casting merits where other casting methods such as die-casting and sand casting cannot be used. These features make precision casting applicable in many industries.