The process of investment casting is normally used for small castings. But nowadays investment casting parts are widely used in the aerospace industry in larger sizes such as entire aircraft doorframes. The power generation industry makes large turbine blades using investment casting. Investment casting partsare so varied they have become standardized in the firearms industry as receivers and triggers. Other industries where standardized investment casting parts are common are military, medical and automotive industries, although the versatility and rapid prototyping benefits make this method a perfect option in most industries.
Investment casting is normally more costly per unit in comparison to die casting or sand casting. However, equipment costs are much lower to create investment casting parts. One can think of producing complex shapes using investment casting which is hardly possible with die casting. In investment casting, plaster molds and flexible patterns of wax or other fusible substance are most commonly used. Due to use of wax, it is called lost-wax casting. For several castings, plaster slurry is used around patterns. The patterns are melted out once the plaster is baked.
There are several advantages of investment castingwhich include:
• Superb surface finishing
• High-dimensional precision
• Even exceptionally complicated parts are also castable
• A wide range of metal can be cast
• No need of flash