Investment Casting

Investment castings in the lost wax process or via PMMA models

This process is used to quickly obtain economical prototypes made of aluminium or zinc. In series production, these parts are usually manufactured as die-cast parts.
The investment castings come very close to the die-cast parts in terms of quality and mechanical resilience and are therefore ideal for simulation and testing purposes / for the test phase of zinc die-cast parts and aluminium die-cast parts, among other things.

To produce investment castings, the first step is to print or mill a master model. With the help of the master model, comparable to the Vacuum casting, a silicone mould is created. The wax balls are cast in this mould. A wax tree is created from these wax balls, which is embedded in a ceramic flask. The flask is then fired in a heating oven at 750°. The process takes 3 days. The investment castings are then cast in an investment casting machine. The process is fully automatic. The parts are cast under vacuum and at a pressure of 10 bar. This casting pressure of 10 bar enables us to cast thin-walled parts.

Another possibility for creating wax patterns is direct printing of wax models with the help of the generative manufacturing.
In addition, there is also the option of using the burnout models made of PMMA in the laser sintering to be produced. This is often the most favourable variant if the surface quality may be slightly rough.

Heat treatment of the parts according to T6 is possible.
If required, we can mechanically rework the investment castings, such as milling fits of all kinds.

The process is suitable for batch sizes of 3 – 200 pieces or more.
Delivery time: approx. 6 working days for first parts – with mechanical processing ca. 10 working days.
Alloys: Aluminium Al Si 10 Mg / Zamak ZL 0410 (other alloys available on request).