Alloy Steel Water Glass Lost Wax Investment Casting Products from China Company.

In the investment casting process, the water glass binder and coating have stable performance, low price, short shell-making cycle and convenient application. The water glass shell making process is suitable for the production of investment castings such as carbon steel, low-alloy steel, cast iron, copper and aluminum alloys that require less surface quality.

Water glass, also known as Sodium Silicate, is a kind of soluble alkali metal silicate, which is glassy in solid state and forms a water glass solution when dissolved in water. According to the difference of the alkali metals contained, there are two types of potassium water glass and soda water glass. The latter is easily soluble in water, contains less impurities, and has stable performance. Therefore, the water glass for investment casting is sodium water glass, namely Na20·mSiO2, A transparent or translucent colloidal aqueous solution formed after hydrolysis. The main chemical components of water glass are silicon oxide and sodium oxide. In addition, it also contains a small amount of impurities. Water glass is not a single compound, but a mixture of multiple compounds.

According to the different binders for shell building, the investment casting could be divided into silica sol binder investment casting, water glass binder investment casting and the investment casting with their mixtures as binder materials.

Investment casting (lost wax casting) is a method of precision casting complex near-net-shape details using replication of wax patterns. Investment casting or lost wax is a metal forming process that typically uses a wax pattern surrounded by a ceramic shell to make a ceramic mold. When the shell dries, the wax is melted away, leaving only the mold. Then the casting component is formed by pouring molten metal into the ceramic mold.

▶ Ferrous and Non-ferrous Materials for Investment Casting, Lost Wax Casting Process:
• Gray Iron:  HT150, HT200, HT250, HT300, HT350; GJL-100, GJL-150, GJL-200, GJL-250, GJL-300, GJL-350; GG10~GG40.
• Ductile Iron or Nodular Iron: GGG40, GGG50, GGG60, GGG70, GGG80; GJS-400-18, GJS-40-15, GJS-450-10, GJS-500-7, GJS-600-3, GJS-700-2, GJS-800-2; QT400-18, QT450-10, QT500-7, QT600-3, QT700-2, QT800-2;
• Carbon Steel:  AISI 1020  - AISI 1060, C30, C40, C45.
• Steel Alloys: ZG20SiMn, ZG30SiMn, ZG30CrMo, ZG35CrMo, ZG35SiMn, ZG35CrMnSi, ZG40Mn, ZG40Cr, ZG42Cr, ZG42CrMo...etc on request.
• Stainless Steel: AISI 304, AISI 304L, AISI 316, AISI 316L, 1.4401, 1.4301, 1.4305, 1.4307, 1.4404, 1.4571 and other stainless steel grade.
• Brass, Red Copper, Bronze or other Copper-based alloy metals: ZCuZn39Pb3, ZCuZn39Pb2, ZCuZn38Mn2Pb2, ZCuZn40Pb2, ZCuZn16Si4
• Other Materials as per your unique requirements or according to ASTM, SAE, AISI, ACI, DIN, EN, ISO, and GB standards

▶ Capabilities of Investment Casting Foundry
• Max Size: 1,000 mm × 800 mm × 500 mm
• Weight Range: 0.5 kg - 100 kg
• Annual Capacity: 2,000 tons
• Bond Materials for Shell Building: Silica Sol, Water Glass and their mixtures.
• Tolerances: On Request.

▶ Main Production Procedure
• Patterns & Tooling Design → Metal Die Making → Wax Injection → Slurry Assembly → Shell Building → De-Waxing  → Chemical Composition Analysis → Melting & Pouring → Cleaning, Grinding & Shot Blasting → Post Processing or Packing for Shipment

▶ Inspecting Lost Wax Castings
• Spectrographic and manual quantitative analysis
• Metallographic analysis
• Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers hardness inspection
• Mechanical property analysis
• Low and normal temperature impact testing
• Cleanliness inspection
• UT, MT and RT inspection

▶ Post-Casting Process
• Deburring & Cleaning
• Shot Blasting / Sand Peening
• Heat Treatment: Normalization, Quench, Tempering, Carburization, Nitriding
• Surface Treatment: Passivation, Anodizing, Electroplating, Hot Zinc Plating, Zinc Plating, Nickel Plating, Polishing, Electro-Polishing, Painting, GeoMet, Zintec.
• Machining: Turning, Milling, Lathing, Drilling, Honing, Grinding.

▶ Advantages of Investment Casting Components:
• Excellent and smooth surface finish
• Tight dimensional tolerances.
• Complex and intricate shapes with design flexibility
• Capability to cast thin walls therefore a lighter casting component
• Wide selection of cast metals and alloys (ferrous and non-ferrous)
• Draft is not required in the molds design.
• Reduce the need for secondary machining.
• Low material waste.

To know better about our capabilities of lost wax casting process, please click the following picture to turn to our page of Investment Casting Capabilities: