What is the Precision Casting Process (Detailed Guide)

What is Precision Casting

Article Directory

Introduction to Precision Casting
Detailed Steps of the Precision Casting Process
Advantages of Precision Casting
The Difference Between Precision Casting and Other Castings?
How to Choose a Precision Casting Company?

Introduction to Precision Casting

Precision Casting, also known as investment casting or lost wax casting, is a broad phrase for the technique of producing precise-sized castings. It is widely used in the production of ferrous and non-ferrous metal parts. As a result, precision casting is a casting technique that may provide a smoother surface on grey iron casting parts or ductile iron casting products than sand casting.

Precision Casting is used for manufacturing complex metal parts with intricate details. It is preferred by manufacturers for its excellent precision, quality, repeatability, and wide range of material support.

Detailed Steps of the Precision Casting Process

1. Mold Design

As per the drawing, our engineer will finish the mold design. The mold is purchased from a mold factory.

2. Wax Injection

The wax is being injected by a machine. The wax design of the desired castings is produced by injection molding. This process is called patterns.

3. Assembly Tree

The patterns are attached to a central wax stick, called a sprue, to form a casting cluster or assembly tree.

4. Shell Making

The shell is built by immersing the assembly in a liquid ceramic slurry and then into a bed of extremely fine sand. Up to SIX layers may be applied in this manner. The shell will be dry in each layer making.

5. Dewax

Once the ceramic is dry, then heated. The wax will be melted out. The melted wax will flow out from the shell.

6. Casting

In the conventional process, the shell is filled with molten metal by gravity pouring. As the metal cools, the parts and gates, sprue, and pouring cup become solid casting.

7. Knockout

When the metal has cooled and solidified, the ceramic shell will be broken off by vibration or a knock-out machine.

8. Cut off

The parts are cut away from the central spruce using a high-speed friction saw.

9. Grinding

After the casting was cut off. The casting pouring part will be ground carefully.

10. Inspection and Post Treatment.

The casting will be inspected by the inspector as per the drawing and quality request. If there are unqualified parts. It will be repaired and inspected again.

11. Finished Castings

After surface finishing operations, the metal castings become identical to the original wax patterns and are ready for shipment to the customer.

Advantages of Precision Casting

Compared with other casting processes, precision casting has some disadvantages. However, it also has some advantages that make it ideal for certain situations.

Can cast almost any metal

This is the biggest advantage of Precision Casting. You are not tied to a specific type of metal with this process. Precision Casting can cast almost any metal including ferrous metals such as Iron. When you have an extremely high strength requirement that can’t be met by any other common metal alloys, you will need Precision Casting for that.

Good Surface Finish

The finished casting has a good finish with no flash or parting lines present. So, you get a near-net-shape casting that reduces some additional post-processing operations. This can save some costs in the case of parts with intricate details.

High level of Precision

Precision Casting yields parts with higher dimensional accuracy. Certain parts with complex geometry and intricate details can be cast using Precision Casting which is often impossible using other methods.

The Difference Between Precision Casting and Other Castings

	Precision Casting	Die Casting
Advantages	Can be used to cast a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Low volume production runs are cheaper as tooling is less costly. Can produce much more complex designs, incorporating design features such as logos. Parts require little machining after finishing. Excellent surface finishes can be achieved.	Excellent dimensional accuracy. Requires little machining. Part size is less restricted, but tooling cost can be prohibitive. Cycle times are very short and he process can be completely automated.
Disadvantages	Cycle times are much longer due to the nature of the process. Part size is limited by what can be securely gated to a tree. Dimensional accuracy is diminished with increasing part size. It is a much more manual process and costs can be higher for large production runs.	Tooling costs are far higher, only cost effective for very large volumes. The parts produced are usually less complex. More material limitations, can’t be used for ferrous alloys. Surface finishes are usually lower quality than IC and require additional processing.

	Precision Casting	Sand Casting
Advantages	Can be used to cast a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Low volume production runs are cheaper as tooling is less costly. Can produce much more complex designs, incorporating design features such as logos. Parts require little machining after finishing. Excellent surface finishes can be achieved.	Low cost in small volumes. Not limited by size. Easy to change part design.
Disadvantages	Cycle times are much longer due to the nature of the process. Part size is limited by what can be securely gated to a tree. Dimensional accuracy is diminished with increasing part size. It is a much more manual process and costs can be higher for large production runs.	High cost in large production runs. Parts are less complex. Lower dimensional accuracy. Surface finish requires additional work.

	Precision Casting	Forging
Advantages	Can be used to cast a wide variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Low volume production runs are cheaper as tooling is less costly. Can produce much more complex designs, incorporating design features such as logos. Parts require little machining after finishing. Excellent surface finishes can be achieved.	Production costs are low. Cycle times are extremely short. Cost effective at very high volumes.
Disadvantages	Cycle times are much longer due to the nature of the process. Part size is limited by what can be securely gated to a tree. Dimensional accuracy is diminished with increasing part size. It is a much more manual process and costs can be higher for large production runs.	Tooling costs are far higher. Tooling must be replaced quite frequently due to wear. Alloy selection is somewhat limited. Lower dimensional accuracy. Extremely limited component complexity.

How to Choose a Precision Casting Company?

Besser Casting is a leading manufacturer and supplier of precision casting parts in China. We have large investment casting plants and processing plants that can produce high quality castings. We can provide you with the most cost-effective casting solution and reasonably reduce costs for you!

No matter what size casting product you need, we can design and manufacture it for you. If you need help, please email us now. Our team of experts is here to help and solutions!

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