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Step 1: Create Mold/Pattern

The first step of the process is to create a mold or pattern of the desired part. The pattern is made of wax. It can be poured into the mold by injection molding, carved by hand from a wax block, or printed with a 3D printer and the appropriate wax material.

Step 2: Mounting the wax pattern

The investment casting tool consists of creating multiple wax patterns and mounting these on a "gate" device. This device is where the metal or other material is poured, ultimately forming the desired part.

Step 3: Tree Assembly

The tree assembly completes the mounting of the wax patterns on the "gate" device. In this step, it is called a tree because each individual wax pattern is essentially a "branch" that will become a finished workpiece once the process is finalized. You may have seen tree assemblies in new board games where the pieces need to be taken apart before use.

Step 4: Shell Shaping

Once the tree is assembled, the next step is to add the casting of the shell around it. First, the tree is dipped into a ceramic slurry. It is then dipped into a fine sandy mortar. The molding must be completely dry before it can be used. These two processes can be completed several times until the mold is thick enough to handle the stress of casting.

Step 5: Dewaxing

The wax pattern must be removed before the desired material can be poured into the newly de-cased mold. This is usually done by heating the wax in the oven. Steam can also be used to heat the wax. The mold is inverted so that the liquid wax can flow out of it and be reused to make a new wax pattern.

Another dewaxing process is to heat the wax so that it "burns" and is completely removed from the casting with the shell.

Step 6: Mold Casting

After the wax has been removed, there are voids inside the shelled casting that have the same shape as the official wax pattern. Molten metal or other liquid material is poured into the casting. The material remains in the casting until it has cooled and solidified completely.

Step 7: Removal of the castings with shells

A hammer or other tool is used to remove the shelled casting until only the original tree remains. In its place is the wax pattern attached to the tree, which will now be the finished part. After the casting is removed, the workpiece is carefully cut from the tree.

Step 8: Finishing operation

Each workpiece is checked for defects. If any defects are found, they are discarded and the material is recycled. The final step of the investment casting process is to use different finishing methods on the workpieces. They can be polished, coated, smoothed, machined, etc. in order to achieve the desired result.

Metal parts produced by the lost wax method

Step 9：Machining

Step 10:Quality check

Investment casting molds are ideally suited for large batches or complex workpieces that require precise details. The exact steps in the process can and do vary depending on the complexity of the part being created.

To learn more about investment casting and whether this is the best solution for creating the part you need, feel free to contact SENACAST at 8615314313678!

We offer a wide range of services, including product design, rapid prototyping, injection molding, investment casting, CNC machining, secondary machining and finishing