Casting Processes 29
process involves the following steps: cleaning,
placement of the workpieces in a suitable vacuum
chamber, drawing of a vacuum in the chamber,
introduction of the sealant to the chamber, pressure
in the chamber to drive the sealant into any pores
that exist on the workpiece, removal of the castings
from the chamber, heating or baking to cure the
impregnated material, if necessary, and washing
and drying.
G. Investment Casting (Lost Wax Process)
This process uses a one-piece mold made of
ceramic material, the same material that is used in
ceramic casting. The mold is made by surrounding
an expendable wax, plastic, or frozen mercury pat-
tern with the ceramic material in slurry form. When
the mold material solidifies it is heated and the wax,
plastic, or mercury replica of the part is melted out,
leaving a cavity corresponding to the shape of the
desired part. The mold is baked to remove all residues
of the pattern and to fuse the ceramic. Molten metal
is poured into this cavity. When the metal solidifies,
the ceramic mold is broken free and removed from
the casting. There are two basic variations of this
process, theflask, solid mold or monolithic method
which uses a metal flask to hold a solid mass of the
ceramic mold material, and the shell method in
which a thin (about 1/4 in - 6 mm) shell of ceramic
without a flask surrounds the pattern. Investment
casting is used extensively for intricate, usually
small, precise parts of high strength alloys. Turbine
blades, sewing machine and gun parts, valve bodies,
wrench sockets, and gears are typical parts. Larger
parts are also now produced weighing up to about
80 lb (35 Kg) per casting.
G 1.flask method - The sequence for the simpler,
but much less used, flask method is as follows:
1. The wax or plastic patterns are injection molded,
often in a low-cost nonferrous mold.
2. A number of patterns are assembled together
on a tree of the same wax or plastic so that
a number of parts can be cast at one time. The
tree consists of a central sprue and branch
runners to which are attached the individual
patterns.
3. The tree is precoated by dipping it in a slurry
of refractory material and then is dried thor-
oughly.
4.The tree is inserted in a flask and investment
material is poured around it. The worktable is
usually vibrated to settle the investment mate-
rial and drive out air pockets. The investment
material is allowed to set and then air dry for
six to eight hours.
5 . The flask is inverted and placed in an oven to
melt out the wax or plastic. Typically temper-
atures of about 375F (19OOC) are used for
about 12 hours.
6. The flask is heated gradually, then held at about
1800F (980C) for about 4 hours to melt and
burn out the wax or plastic residue and to fuse
the investment material.
7. Molten metal is poured into the mold cavity.
Gravity is the prime filling method but air
pressure and centrifugal force may also be
used. The metal cools and solidifies.
8. Shake-out takes place. The casting in tree
form is removed from the flask and the invest-
ment material is broken away from it.
9. The tree is descaled by immersion for 10 to
15 min in a molten salt bath at 1100F (600C)
followed immediately by a cold water dip and
cleaning and neutralizing immersions.
10. The parts are cut from the tree.
11. Gates and runners are removed from the cast-
ings by abrasive or other machining methods.
Fig. 1G1 illustrates the mold making portion
of this process.
G2. shell method - This method has a very simi-
lar sequence to that of the flask method. The chief
difference is that, instead of pouring a solid mass of
investment material around the thinly-coated tree
pattern, it is coated with a series of dip coats of
ceramic slurry until the desired thickness of shell is
built up. This thickness is usually about 1/4 in
(6.3mm), and no flask is then required. About six or
seven dips may be required, depending on the size
of the part. The sequence of operations is illustrated
in Fig. 1G2. The shell method has become the
predominant method, though the flask method may
give somewhat better surface definition to the cast-
ing since the molten metal cools more slowly. Less
surface decarburization occurs with the shell
process. It also has a shorter cycle time.