INVESTMENT CASTING

(LOST WAX CASTING)

The name lost wax is the most common name for this process and comes from the wax lost in forming the cavity. Investment is the name given to the refractory material used to form the mould. Both names are correct but lost wax is the older traditional name and investment casting is the modern technical one. Bronze and precious metal objects have been produced by this method for at least 6000 yrs. Craftsman in China, India, Persia, Greece, Egypt, Italy and many other areas produced work ranging from small items of jewellery to large statues using this process. One of the most famous lost wax castings of the Renaissance period are four doors in the church of San Giovanni (St John the Baptist) in Florence, Italy. The timber doors with high relief panels were made by Lorenzo Ghiberti starting about the year 1380. One pair of doors has ten panels and the other pair has twenty eight panels. Each door is five meters high and weighs several tonnes. The panels are cast in bronze and took 48 years to complete. In recent years woodwind manufacturers have started to use this process to produce KEYWORK instead of the traditional power forging. The initial low cost of patterns together with the low finishing costs have made this process attractive for small and medium volume production. The lost wax casting process offers several advantages over other casting processes such as sand casting, shell moulding and die-casting. It can also be used to reduce assembly and finishing times and therefore, costs. ADVANTAGES OF INVESTMENT CASTING OVER OTHER CASTING PROCESSES 1) Very good surface finish - 1000 grit wet & dry, varies with investment used and finish of initial pattern. 2) 3) Good dimensional accuracy -varies with shape etc but +/- 0.1mm is possible. No sand inclusions the investment is locked together essentially it becomes one piece.

4) Undercuts possible - Flexible rubber mould and removable sections make undercuts possible, it is no longer necessary to produce a tapered lead on the item. This allows much more intricate shapes to be cast with greater accuracy and with much less hassle. 5) High melting point temperatures - investment is a refractory material and can withstand very high temperature metals. The basic process is very simple; a piece of wax the shape required is encased in a refractory material. The refractory is then heated to remove the wax and harden the refractory. The resultant cavity is then filled with molten metal.

The above describes the process in its simplest form, the actual process used today involves considerably more stages which is why lost wax casting is expensive. PRODUCING THE WAX ORIGINAL The wax original can be produced several ways depending on the number required. For items where only one is required the shape can be cut or machined directly from blocks of wax. The wax used for this purpose is very hard and can be turned milled and drilled.

Filing wax

Machining wax

Sawing wax

The jewellery trade use preformed sections for rings etc which can be cut and filed to the required shape. The wax can also be built up using molten wax. Complex shapes can be formed using a water soluble wax as a base and overlaying layers of normal wax. The soluble wax is then dissolved away leaving just the normal wax and spaces where the soluble wax was. The above techniques work well for one off applications but most of the industrial uses require multiple copies of the same item. The most common method for producing identical multiple items involves making a split rubber mould that can then be used over and over again to produce the wax copies. A master or original; is made from steel or brass with a very good surface finish, an allowance for shrinkage of the hot metal should also be made. This is around 1% for Nickel silver (varies slightly depending upon which alloy it is). The master pattern is encased in un-vulcanised rubber in an aluminium frame and heated while being compressed in a vulcanising press.

A Master of a ring in

The Master surrounded

An aluminium frame.

By un-vulcanised rubber.

The rubber softens with the heat and flows around the pattern, further heating vulcanises the rubber. The rubber is carefully slit to remove the original and also to form locking shapes or keys to locate the two halves correctly. The vulcanised block of rubber is flexible to allow the removal of the wax, but it returns to its original shape. The split rubber mould is clamped together and hot molten wax is injected under low pressure. After cooling for a few seconds the wax copy is removed and the process is repeated. A rubber mould can be reused several thousand times depending on the complexity of the mould.

Two rubber moulds with their wax products. The wax copies are usually built up into a tree shape each attached by a runner or sprue to one central sprue. The number of copies in the tree is dictated by the size and type of casting machine used.

A casting of Louis XIV on horse back showing its sprues.

INVESTING The tree is placed in the centre of a rubber cap and a circular stainless steel tube or flask is fitted over it. The flask is then filled with fine refractory slurry (not unlike plaster of Paris in appearance). Great care is taken during the mixing and initial drying out periods to exclude air bubbles by the use of a vacuum chamber or in the case of large items the use of a vibrating platform or poker. When the refractory has solidified the end cap is removed exposing the end of the central sprue. The flask is placed in a special furnace with the sprue pointing down. The flask is heated first to 150C which melts the wax out; this is collected in a container underneath the furnace and can be recycled. The temperature is raised in stages to 730C this fires the refractory and burns out any remaining traces of wax. The temperature is then lowered to the casting temperature. The length of the burning out and firing cycle varies according to the size of flask but a typical cycle could take eight hours to complete. Note ! The small furnace in our workshop was supplied for this type of work. It is fitted with a removable drawer underneath to collect the wax melted out of the flasks.

MELTING THE CASTING METAL The method used is determined by several factors 1) 2) 3) Melting point of casting material Weight of metal to cast Scale of production

For small-scale production where castings only weigh a few grams direct heating of the metal in the crucible using an oxy/acet torch or a small electric muffle furnace are the most common methods. For larger scale production of small items high frequency heating coils are used which can be built into the casting machine. For high volume production of large weights electric or gas fired muffle furnaces are used to melt the metal. Depending on the metal being cast, flux is added to assist in melting and make the metal more fluid. A protective inert gas shield is sometimes used to stop the metal oxidising during melting.

CASTING THE METAL Various methods of filling the investment are used, gravity, pressure, vacuum or centrifugal force.

The larger industrial casters tend to use vacuum machines as heavier weights can be cast due to the flask being stationary during casting. Maximum weight possible varies but around 30 kilos can be considered a reasonable limit. The investment after firing is porous and the flasks used for vacuum casting have small holes through which the air is sucked out in a vacuum chamber. The molten metal is sucked down into the cavity, the metal being thicker than the air is trapped within the investment. This was the technique used by B & H to cast clarinet and flute keys. Each flask could contain upwards of 200 keys depending on the size of key being cast. In Centrifugal casting machines the flask is spun around at high speed on an arm. The arm can be in a vertical or horizontal plane and the metal is forced into the flask from a specially shaped crucible by centrifugal force. The arm rotates long enough for the metal to solidify before stopping. Sizes vary but usual maximum possible is a flask 100mm x 150mm with a 340 gram max weight of metal.

Centrifugal casting machine.

Metal being heated directly in the crucible of a casting machine.

The pressure casting machines use air or steam to force the metal into the flask. These machines are usually quite small and are often used by dental technician when casting gold crowns for teeth. Weight is limited to a few grams. The metal being cast is usually melted directly in the flask top using a gas torch. A wet pad of material is placed over the top of the flask and the steam generated forces the molten material down into the cavity. Gravity filling is used for the very heavy casting weights; the metal is simply poured in. After casting, while the flask and metal are still hot it is plunged into cold water. The thermal shock makes the investment burst and crumble away from the casting. The sprues are removed and the castings are then ready for final finishing. Good quality lost wax casting require very little finishing as the surface finish is almost as good as the original used. This casting process can even reproduce finger marks left on the wax patterns. The most common method of removing the last traces of investment and polishing the items is the blast cleaning unit mentioned in the 3YR file note on CLEANING METHODS. Various different methods to those indicated above can be used to suit specialised applications.

Jewellery makers sometimes use natural objects that will burn out. Instead of making a wax pattern they coat the original with investment and it burns out during firing. I have seen castings in silver of leaves, flowers and a blue bottle fly complete with all its legs. Over 80% of all commercial jewellery is produced by investment casting. Unfortunately nickel silver the traditional material for keywork is not one of the most fluid metals to cast so they tend to use white brass or bronzes instead. The Americans used Beryllium copper for a while because it is very fluid when molten and of high strength. Using this material it was possible to cast complete keys including cup, barrel and touch as one piece. The material has one problem it gives off highly toxic fumes during heating so they stopped using it. Using alternative materials it is possible to make complete keys but most makers still only use it for making separate key parts which are then assembled into complete keys. Cups and barrels are easier made the conventional way. It can be difficult to detect when this process has been used. The original pattern is usually made in the traditional way and so the castings exhibit all the signs of also being traditionally made. The give away signs to look for are mould lines where the rubber mould was cut to remove the original pattern. Usually the manufacturers polish them out on all visible surfaces but leave them on the underside. It is still possible to be fooled though, I once tried to disassemble a thumb ring key to use for a repair. Only to find that it was one complete casting. The casting was a perfect copy, even showing shear marks where the heal part was made, machine marks on the ring and typical silver solder joints. The main disadvantage with investment casting apart from the cost is the lack of any grain flow along the keys. The metal being cast has a random grain pattern and lacks the benefits of forged keys. See 1YR unit on FORGING and 2YR unit on POWER FORGING. (to follow this one) This process has gradually been taken up by various firms for a diverse range of uses. The jet engine makers use lost wax casting to produce rotor blades in exotic alloys which are almost impossible to machine. The Ruger Co of America which has received cult status for it .44" magnum handgun "the most powerful handgun in the world" courtesy of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry. They manufacture all types of rifles, shotguns and pistols in stainless steel making extensive use of lost wax casting. Dental technicians use it to produces crowns, dental plates and clips. The wax is built up on and around the plaster casts taken of your teeth and gums. The above is only an outline of the process, any student who is interested and would like to know more about it is welcome to borrow books I have on the subject. I will also be happy to show you the casting apparatus we have in storage in the woodwind workshop. I am hoping to set this equipment up over the summer holidays as therefore hope to be able to demonstrate this possess to you during your third year. The newspaper article below is one I just happened to stumble across concerning Boosey & Hawkes when they first started using lost wax casting for producing keys. Because the process was mainly used for jewellery making in this country, they chose Julie Crossland a lecturer in jewellery making to show them how to do it.