Stainless Steel Investment Casting from jccasting's blog

Stainless steel investment casting, also known as stainless steel lost wax casting, is a precision casting process for stainless steel alloys (304, 316, 17-4PH, 2205, etc.), which can produce stainless steel castings with high precision and complex details and similar manufacturing processes such as stainless steel sand casting compared to.

In stainless steel investment casting, the wax pattern is injected and coated by dipping in a refractory slurry. Once the refractory coating has hardened, this dipping process is repeated several times to increase the coating thickness and its strength. Once the final coating has hardened, the wax is melted and the molten stainless steel is poured into the cavity formed by the wax pattern. Once the stainless steel has solidified within the mold, the stainless steel casting is removed by breaking the refractory mold.

The difference between stainless steel investment casting and stainless steel sand casting

Stainless steel investment casting and stainless steel sand casting are two different casting methods for making stainless steel parts by pouring liquid metal into molds. Because both stainless steel investment casting and stainless steel sand casting have their own advantages, we can't say which one is better, just for different applications.

Cost: Due to the complexity and preparation work required, the stainless steel investment casting process is always more expensive than stainless steel sand casting.

Weight: Stainless steel investment casting can make castings less than 0.5kg, while stainless steel sand casting cannot always produce small and complex parts like investment casting. Stainless steel investment casting also has limitations on the size and weight of sand casting. The mold handling equipment in the foundry can affect the weight of the product.

Surface Finish: Surface finish is another big difference between stainless steel investment casting and stainless steel sand casting. Stainless steel investment casting produces finished parts with smooth surfaces and close tolerances. After degating and shot blasting, the billet can be turned directly into net shape. For stainless steel sand casting, the mold must be disassembled to remove the final product. As a result, the parting line will remain outside the finished part. And because the sand is rough, the surface of the finished casting will be equally rough. Therefore, additional cost and time are required in secondary processing to remove parting lines and smoother surfaces.

The investment casting process is generally superior to other types of stainless steel castings, especially when it comes to surface finish.