LOSTWAX TR · Investment Casting
Investment castings, engineered from alloy to inspection report.
LOSTWAX TR is a manufacturing partner for precision investment cast components in steel, stainless steel and special alloys, and an open technical reference on the lost-wax process, materials, tolerances and quality.
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- 62 alloys in the reference database
- 30 process stages explained
- 65 standards in the library
What investment casting is
A wax pattern, a ceramic shell and almost any alloy that can be melted.
Investment casting reproduces an expendable wax pattern in metal. Because the one-piece ceramic mould has no parting line and is poured hot, the process delivers thin walls, undercuts, internal passages and fine surface detail that other casting methods cannot hold.
For industrial buyers this means fewer machining operations, parts consolidated from welded or assembled designs, and free choice of alloy — from carbon steel to duplex stainless steel and nickel alloys — at quantities from prototypes to series production.
Why investment casting
Four engineering reasons to choose the process
Geometric freedom
Undercuts, internal passages, thin ribs and lettering are cast in, without draft on most surfaces.
Alloy flexibility
Ferrous and non-ferrous alloys, including grades that are difficult to forge or machine.
Near-net shape
Close as-cast tolerances and a fine surface reduce machining to functional features.
Scalable quantities
Moderate tooling cost makes the process economic from small batches to long-running series.
Manufacturing process
Thirty controlled stages in six phases
The process in eight steps
01 Wax pattern injection
Wax is injected as a liquid or paste under controlled temperature, pressure, flow rate and dwell time to produce one pattern per casting.
02 Pattern assembly
Patterns are wax-welded to a central sprue to form a cluster (tree); spacing, orientation and joint quality are controlled.
03 Ceramic shell building
Dipping, stuccoing and drying are repeated, typically five to ten times, until the shell is strong enough for dewaxing and pouring.
04 Dewaxing
The wax is melted out rapidly, most often in a steam autoclave, so that a surface layer melts before the bulk wax expands against the shell.
05 Metal pouring
Metal is poured into the hot shell at a defined temperature and rate, by gravity or assisted by vacuum, pressure or rotation.
06 Shell knockout
The ceramic is removed by vibration, hammering or high-pressure water; residues in holes and recesses are removed by blasting or chemical leaching.
07 Casting removal from the tree
Castings are separated from the sprue by abrasive cutting, band sawing or, for suitable alloys, by breaking at notched gates.
08 Final inspection
Visual examination against agreed surface acceptance standards and verification that all specified operations and tests are complete and recorded.
Materials and alloys
A reference database organised by alloy family
Composition limits, minimum mechanical properties, density and carefully classified international cross-references for the cast grades most often specified by European and North American customers.
Carbon and low-alloy steels
Structural, pressure-retaining and heat-treatable steel grades for general engineering castings.
14 gradesAustenitic stainless steels
Cast counterparts of the 304 and 316 families and higher-alloyed austenitic grades for corrosive service.
5 gradesMartensitic and precipitation-hardening stainless steels
High-strength stainless grades whose properties are set by hardening and tempering or by ageing.
6 gradesDuplex and super duplex stainless steels
Austenitic-ferritic grades with high strength and resistance to chloride pitting and stress corrosion.
4 gradesHeat-resistant steels
High-carbon iron-chromium-nickel casting alloys for furnace parts and service above about 650 °C.
11 gradesNickel-based alloys
Corrosion-resistant Ni-Cr-Mo and Ni-Cu alloys and high-temperature nickel alloys.
2 gradesCobalt-based alloys
Cobalt-chromium alloys for wear, galling and high-temperature resistance.
2 gradesAluminium alloys
Heat-treatable Al-Si-Mg casting alloys for lightweight, thin-walled precision castings.
5 gradesCopper-based alloys
Silicon bronze, aluminium bronze, nickel-aluminium bronze and red brass casting alloys.
2 gradesTitanium alloys
Unalloyed titanium and Ti-6Al-4V castings for high specific strength and corrosion resistance.
Engineering and design support
Design decisions determine quality and cost
Wall transitions, fillet radii, gate positions, datum targets and machining allowances are settled before tooling is cut. We review drawings for casting feasibility, advise on material selection and plan the machining route together with the casting.
Precision and quality
Verification that matches the specification
Dimensional inspection, material verification, non-destructive testing and documentation are planned per order, from a basic 3.1 certificate to witnessed third-party inspection.
Dimensional inspection
Dimensional inspection methods for castings: hand gauges, CMM, optical 3D scanning, form measurement, datum alignment, first article inspection and series control.
02Non-destructive testing
NDT methods for investment castings: liquid penetrant, magnetic particle, radiographic and ultrasonic testing, computed tomography, leak testing, personnel qualification and acceptance levels.
03Material testing
Verification of cast alloys: spectrometric chemical analysis, PMI, tensile, hardness and impact testing, metallography, ferrite measurement, corrosion tests and heat-treatment verification.
04Documentation
Documentation for investment castings: EN 10204 inspection documents 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2, material certificates, dimensional and NDT reports, heat-treatment records and traceability.
Industrial applications
Where investment castings are used
Aerospace Automotive Motorsport Energy Power generation Oil and gas Pumps and valves Marine Defence Medical equipment Industrial machinery Robotics Automation Agriculture Railway Chemical processing Food processing General engineering
Technical knowledge centre
References engineers actually use
Tolerances
Tolerancing of investment castings: ISO 8062-3 casting tolerance grades, VDG P 690, geometrical tolerances to ISO 1101, datum systems, machining allowance, shrinkage and distortion.
02Casting defects
Reference library of investment casting defects: appearance, possible causes, process stages of origin, detection methods and preventive and corrective measures.
03Standards library
Searchable reference list of ISO, EN, ASTM, VDG and other standards relevant to investment casting: tolerances, materials, testing, NDT, surface acceptance and inspection documents.
04Engineering tools
Free engineering tools for casting design and purchasing: unit converter, casting weight calculator, material comparison and ISO 8062-3 casting tolerance reference.
05International equivalents
How to compare cast alloy designations across EN, DIN, ASTM, ASME, UNS, AISI, SAE, JIS, ISO and GB/T, and why similar grades are not automatically interchangeable.
06Glossary
Multilingual glossary of investment casting, metallurgical, tolerance and inspection terms in English, German, French and Dutch for engineers and buyers.
Contact
Send a drawing or call us
From drawing to delivered casting
Request a quotation for your investment cast part
Send your drawing, material specification and quantities. We review castability, propose the production route and reply with a quotation.
- 1Send drawing and requirements by e-mail
- 2Engineering review and clarification
- 3Quotation with production route and lead time
Telephone
- Head Office+90 312 870 19 81
- Manufacturing & Engineering Center+90 312 870 19 82
- Mobile+90 533 197 19 81
Address
LOSTWAX TRBeştepe Mah. Nergiz Sok. 7/2 No: 87
Yenimahalle, Ankara, Turkey
Office hours
Monday to Friday, 08:30 – 18:00 (UTC+3)
LOSTWAX TR is a specialised investment casting brand of Modulus Metal.