Investment Castings
Lost wax investment castings are specified to achieve:
The highest standards of dimensional accuracy. The best possible cast surface finish. Thin wall sections. Reduction or elimination of machining. Good definition of cast features.
Tooling consists of a set of aluminium dies into which wax is injected to produce disposable patterns. These are assembled into trees which are then given multiple coatings of a ceramic to build up a shell. The wax is melted out and the shell is fired at high temperature ready for casting.
Investment casting of magnesium alloys
Since 2001, Stone Foundries have had ongoing discussions and dialogue with ingot suppliers, research establishments and potential customers in response to a need for thin wall, detailed, low volume castings in magnesium alloys for the aerospace market. Hitherto this has been technically challenging; traditional sand castings have their own limitations and pressure die castings are only suitable for high volume production. We are currently involved in two development projects with consortia based in the UK and Europe; the object being to develop magnesium investment casting alloys, perfect the investment casting process, investigate corrosion protection and to develop best practices using all the most up to date technology currently available.
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