Investment Casting Advantages
Investment castings can and do result in savings in material, time and costs
Advantages of Investment Casting
Surface Finish
The investment casting process provides far superior surface finish as compared to forgings and sand castings. Sometimes this is important and can avoid machining or other finishing operations.
Closer to finished part designs
Investment Castings provide near net shapes for manufactured parts, thus eliminating or reducing machining costs. Holes, undercuts, slots and other difficult detail that cannot be had with other processes can often be provided. An added benefit of near net shape is the savings on material, especially with expensive alloys such as nickel and cobalt alloys.
Tighter Tolerances
Due to the nature of the process, Investment Castings can be held to much tighter tolerances than sand castings or forgings.
Competitive Tooling Costs
With Franklin Bronzes’ own tool manufacturing, initial charges for the investment casting tooling are often less expensive than those for sand castings.
Thin wall castings
The investment casting process is capable of more reliable castings with much thinner walls than sand castings. Advantages include substantially less scrap rates and castings that weigh less due to the thinner wall capability.
Less casting defects
Being a cleaner process than sand moulds, investment castings in general, provide a much higher percentage of defect free-castings.
They just look better!
Whether or not appearance is critical, investment castings just have the appearance of quality and high class. Minimal to no discernable parting lines are the norm. Also, most outside surfaces do not require draft.
|
5 = Optimal Method; 1 = Least Optimal Method |
|
Investment Casting |
Sand Casting |
Die Casting |
Forging |
Fabrication |
| Best For Short Runs (50-1000 pieces) |
5 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Best For Long Runs (1000+ pieces) |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
| Castability of Thin Wall Sections |
5 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
| Tighter Tolerance |
4 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
| Ease of Changing Design in Production |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
| Surface Finish |
5 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
| Castability of Thick Wall Sections |
3 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
| Tooling Cost |
5 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
| Versatility in Alloy Selections |
5 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
