round glass spigot without base

Cast iron pipes must be resistant to corrosion and high pressure. Other castings must be lightweight but durable. In many applications, parts are designed to allow precise tolerances between expansion and contraction.

Invest in the foundry process

In investment casting, wax or a suitable polymer pattern is applied by dipping into a refractory slurry. Once the refractory coating has hardened, the dipping process is then repeated several times to increase coating thickness and strength. Once the final coating hardens, the wax melts and the molten metal is poured into the cavity formed by the wax mold. Once the metal has solidified within the mold, the metal casting is removed by breaking the refractory mold.

Investment casting produces precision parts while minimizing material waste, energy and subsequent processing. It also ensures the production of very complex parts. This makes the investment casting process very useful for design engineers. 

A. Mold Design #glassclip #glasspoolfencing #framelessglass #glassbalustrade #glassclamp #glasspost #semiframelessglass 

It uses a pattern with the same detail as the finished part, except that there is an allowance for thermal shrinkage (i.e. shrinkage).

Patterns are usually made from wax using metal injection molds.

B. Waxing  #glassspigot #poolfencing #glassfencing #glassfittings #glasshardware

Once the wax pattern is produced, it is assembled with other wax components to form the gate and runner metal delivery system.

Depending on the size and configuration of the desired veneer components, multiple wax patterns can be processed with a single tree.

C. Create the mold shell  #framelessglassfencing #privacyfencing #glassstands #framelessfencing

The entire wax mold assembly is dipped in a ceramic slurry, covered with sand plaster, and allowed to dry.

The soaking and subsequent stucco cycles are repeated until a shell of the desired thickness is formed. This thickness depends in part on product size and configuration.

Once the ceramic shell dries, it becomes strong enough to retain molten metal during casting.

D. Wax removal    #glassrailing #usglassfencing #caglassfencin

The entire assembly was placed in a steam autoclave to melt most of the wax.

Any wax that remains in the ceramic casing will burn off in the furnace. At this point, the residual wax mold and casting material have been completely removed, and the ceramic mold still has a cavity in the shape of the desired casting.

This high temperature operation also increases the strength and stability of the ceramic material. Additionally, it helps minimize shell and metal reactions during the pouring process.

E. Casting

A metal casting is formed by preheating a mold to a specific temperature and filling it with molten metal.

Almost any alloy can be produced using this process. Depending on the requirements of the alloy chemistry, air melting or vacuum melting can be used. Vacuum melting is mainly used when active elements are present in the alloy.

F. Final Actions

Once the casting has cooled sufficiently, the mold shell is detached from the casting in a demolding operation.

Gates and runners are cut from the casting and, if necessary, final post-processing blasting, grinding, and machining to complete the casting to size.

NDT may include fluorescent penetrants, magnetic particles, radiography.