TPM Metalcraft Minute
Your Source for Investment Casting Knowledge
October 14, 2015, Volume 9
Contact Antonio Garcia for any casting questions.
The 4 Main Departments in Investment Casting
An Investment Casting Facility can be broken into 4 major departments:
- Wax
- Shell
- Foundry
- Finishing
Let's Pour Some Metal!
As a follow up on the last issue of the TPM Metalcraft Minute, we are finally ready to pour some metal. Once our ceramic shell has gone through the dewax process, we are now ready to prep the shell to be poured and finally fill the shell with molten metal.
Shell Preparation
Inspect for Cracks
After the shell has gone through the dewax process the shell is allowed to cool and is inspected for cracks. A shell with cracks present is susceptible to a leak, resulting in scrap castings. If a crack is present the crack is either patched with a refractory material or the shell is scrapped and we start the whole process over. You can now see why we spend so much time and effort in producing a consistent, strong & permeable shell.
Preheat the Shell
A shell that has passed inspection for cracks is loaded into our preheat oven. This oven's purpose is to heat the shell to 1600-1800 degrees for 1- 1 1/2 hours. This high temperature is responsible for creating a phase change in the ceramic shell, resulting in a much stronger shell. The increase in temperature also decreases the thermal shock the shell goes through when molten metal is poured into it.
Melt Metal
It is now time to pour metal. We have an empty shell ready to be filled with molten metal. To create this molten metal we will load our induction furnace with certified ingot for the required alloy and melt to the appropriate temperature. Some alloys are poured at temperatures 2950 degrees and higher. We will verify the temperature of the metal in both the induction furnace and our ladle using our high temperature pyrometer. The metal is poured from the induction furnace into the transfer ladle which is used to pour the metal into the preheated shell.
Pouring the Casting
With Music
Pouring Metal At TPM
Next Issue
- Knock Out / Shell Removal
- Cut Off
- Finishing
What Our Customers Say...
"TPM takes a true pro-active approach in assisting their customer." - Joe Cocca, Alexander Ryan Marine & Safety.
"We can't praise your casting team enough how good the quality of both the casting and machining." - Mike Cheng, Parker PGI
TPM Inc.
Contact Antonio Garcia for any investment casting questions.
Email: agarcia@txpm.com
Website: www.txpm.com
Location: 810 Industrial Boulevard, Sugar Land, TX, United States
Phone: 281-240-9191
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Texas-Precision-Metalcraft-Inc/352724191288