SEMESTER 1 SESSION 2017/2018

RK84 PRODUCT DESIGN ENGINEERING

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY
EPT 184

INVESTMENT EXPANDABLE MOLD

LECTURER NAME : AZMI HARUN

NAME MATRIC NO
MUHAMMAD ILHAM BIN SAIDI 17121406
NURSYAFIKAH BINTI MARZUKI 171121427
MUHAMMAD SYAUQI BIN MOHAMAD SAHARIF 171121409
AIMAN SYAMIL HAS-YUN BIN ASHUKORI 171121380
Investment expandable mold

Process

Advantage

Complex shape, excellent finish,carry with very fine details

Disadvantage

Small parts, expensive

Investment casting

Investment casting (known as lost-wax casting in art) is a process that has been practiced for
thousands of years, with the lost-wax process being one of the oldest known metal forming
techniques. From 5000 years ago, when beeswax formed the pattern, to today’s high
technology waxes, refractory materials and specialist alloys, the castings ensure high-quality
components are produced with the key benefits of accuracy, repeatability, versatility and
integrity.

Investment casting derives its name from the fact that the pattern is invested, or surrounded,
with a refractory material. The wax patterns require extreme care for they are not strong
enough to withstand forces encountered during the mold making. One advantage of
investment casting is that the wax can be reused.

The process is suitable for repeatable production of net shape components from a variety of
different metals and high performance alloys. Although generally used for small castings, this
process has been used to produce complete aircraft door frames, with steel castings of up to
300 kg and aluminium castings of up to 30 kg. Compared to other casting processes such as
die casting or sand casting, it can be an expensive process. However, the components that can
be produced using investment casting can incorporate intricate contours, and in most cases
the components are cast near net shape, so require little or no rework once cast
PROCESS

Flask-cast Investment
Shell-casting Investment

Investment Casting

Sequential steps for investment casting

Produce a master pattern

Produce a master die

Produce wax patterns

Assemble the wax patterns onto a common wax sprue

Coat the tree with a thin layer of investment material

Form additional investment around the coated cluster

Allow the investment to harden

Remove the wax pattern from the mold by melting or dissolving

Heat the mold

Pour the molten metal

Remove the solidified casting from the mold

Design Consideration

When doing this type of casting, we need to cosider the pattern that we are doing then after that we
can proceed with the casting process until the product is produced.

The design consideration are:

1. The pattern
2. Where will do the gate and the runner for the design
3. Size limits
4. Thickness limit
5. Typical tolerance
6. Draft allowance
7. Surface finish
DEFECT