INVESTMENT CASTING FOUNDRY PRACTICE

G.M.Rajendra Prasad,
A/14, K.H.B.Colony, Puttenahalli, Yelahanka, Bangalore-560106
Mail: gmrpsbc@gmail.com. Cell: 9480504635.
Let me Confess at the outset that I am totally ignorant of Science of Investment
Casting. We have been able to Develop Investment Casting ,on our own, by trial
& error method. We do not even know if what we have done is Conventional or not.
I have not even seen an Investment Casting Foundry. The process that we have fo
llowed has given us results. Ours is a Sand Foundry, where we make all kinds of
Steels. We developed Investment Castings, on the side lines, for our sister conc
ern which manufactures PUMPS to reduce great deal of machining at their end.
Excepting a Wax Injection Machine for Pattern making & a Stirrer we did not have
anything. I would like to caution such of those people, who want to start an ex
clusive Investment Castings unit, ensure that you have all the required equipmen
ts for an Investment Castings Foundry.
The materials we used are Colloidal Silica(30%), Godrej EZEE Soap Solution, NAV
Antifoam Solution, -325# Fused Quartz, 150# Fused Quartz, 100# Fused Quartz, 70#
Fused Quartz, 60# Mullite, 40# Mullite, 30# Mullite, 16# Mullite, Investment
Casting Pattern WAX. At the end the addresses of Companies from whom we procured
the materials will be given. The other things we used are Pattern Injection Mac
hine, a Motorized Stirrer, an Electrical Resistant Heating Furnace & a Vessel t
o treat the Shells in Boiling Water.
Prepare your Wax Pattern & attach it to Central Sprue. Between the pattern & Cen
tral Sprue bar an Adequately sized Cylindrical Wax rod not longer than 10 mm is
provided. As regards to Diameter it depends on Casting size. This acts as a FEE
DER to the Casting. Ensure that proper Venting is Provided for Air to get out of
Shell before liquid metal fills the Shell. To this Central Sprue bar Several Pa
tterns can be attached. Now you have Wax Tree.
1. Take 4.5 liters of Colloidal silica.
2. To this add 7.5 Kgs of -325 Quartz Flour.
3. Mix it with the stirrer for 30 minutes.
4. Add 4 Drops of Godrej EZEE Soap Liquid.( This is a Wetting agent)
5. Mix it for 30 minutes. During this process lot of Foam will be generated
& it has to be removed.
6. Add 50 ml of NAV antifoam.
7. Mix it for 30 minutes.
8. Now the Coating material is almost ready, but you need to remove few air
bubbles still present Manually along with foreign material if any. Now your coa
ting Slurry is ready
9. Dip the wax pattern Tree in SLURRY.
10. STUCCO it immediately with 150# Fused Quartz.Now, What is this STUCCOING
? When ever you have to PAINT a Wall or a Door, you first RUB(?) the surface wi
th Sand Paper or Emery Paper. Why do you do that?
Imagine a smooth surface & a surface with scratches, Surface with scratches wil
l have a greater surface area. This helps in better ADHEARENCE of PAINT on the s
urface. But in case of our Shell slurry is as smooth as TALCUM POWDER &WET. So w
e SPRINKLE 150# fused Quartz Flour on to the WET SLURRY COAT. This Flour adheres
to wet slurry surface. In case of wall, we had scratches, depression, which inc
reased the TOTAL SURFACE AREA & in case of our Shell we have PROJECTIONS of 150#
Quartz Flour on -325#Slurry. This also increases the TOTAL SURFACE AREA.
11. Allow the shell to DRY for 8 hours in normal condition.(First coat) Prob
ably one could hasten drying by using INFRARED Heat but I do not know about it.
12. After 8 hours of drying, Dip the shell in -325# Slurry & Stucco with 10
0# Fused Quartz. (2nd coat)
13. Allow it to dry for 8 hours. Before each time you dip the shell in Slurr
y, Stir it once to ensure that DISPERSAL -325# Fused Quartz is UNIFORM in Colloi
dal Silica. Our coating Slurry is always of -325# Fused Quartz. Our stucco mater
ial size changes.
14. Same thing gets repeated with 70# Fused Quartz or Mullite(Cheaper).
15. Stucco with 50# Mullite.
16. Stucco with 30# Mullite.
17. Stucco with 16# Mullite.
For smaller Castings about 6 or 7 coating are adequate.
For Bigger castings, you need more number of Coats to get a STRONGER SHELL. In c
ase of more number of coats Stucco material is 16# Mullite.
18. Now that after all the coatings, Shell is ready for DEWAXING.
19. Make a Stand in such a way(with an opening) that your shell can be kept
upside down. Keep a container ,with water in it, under the shell.
20. Start heating the shell with LPG gas flame. Wax melts & falls into water
so that no wax gets burnt out.
21. After you have ensured that all the wax has melted & come out, Continue
to Heat the Shell. WHY? Even though all the wax has melted & come out, a layer o
f Carbonaceous layer is still adhering to the surface of the shell. As you go on
heating the shell, air inside the shell expands & comes out of the shell & fres
h air enters the shell. Oxygen of the Air reacts with Carbonaceous layer & becom
es Carbon di oxide & comes out of the shell. Keep heating the shell till no fume
s come out of the shell. Ensure that you are heating CASTING portion more than t
he other portions. Now you break open one Shell, you will see milky white surfac
e rather than black surface. In case of Castings with larger Surface Area, the e
ntire carbonaceous layer did not get burnt out. So, We let a Stream of OXYGEN in
to the Shell(which is being heated from Outside) at a Very Low Pressure. This re
sulted in burning of Carbonaceous Layer. On breaking of Shell, it surface is WH
ITE. As regards to how long Oxygen has to be passed depends on Surface Area of
the Casting.
22. WAX has ASH in it .Fresh wax will have less of wax & used wax will have
more.This ash is still adhering to the inner surface of the shell. This ash has
to be removed.This is done by putting the shells in BOILING water. Because of th
e turbulence of boiling water, boiling water enters shell & removes Ash adhering
to the surface. As regards to the time of keeping the Shell in the Boiling wate
r, No foreign matter coming out of the Shell should be Visible. Take out the sh
ell from water & allow it dry for 8 hours. Now your shell is ready for Preheatin
g before pouring the molten metal into it.
23. Put your shells in an Electrical resistance Furnace & heat the shells to
about 950 degree Celsius.
24. Take out the Shells about 3 to 5 minutes before Pouring liquid metal.
25. Place the Shells on a Sand Bed, Cover the shell with Dry sand to ensure
that Shell does not loose heat. During all this, ensure Sprue opening is COVERED
so that nothing falls into the shell.
26. Just before pouring liquid metal, remove the lid.
27. Pour the liquid metal into the shell.
28. Take out the shell from the dry sand cover & allow it cool to about 250
degree Celsius in natural atmosphere.
29. Break the Shell without damaging the Castings.
30. Cut the Feeder(attachment to central Sprue ) & Vents.
31. Grind the cut portion without damaging the AS-CAST Surface of the CASTIN
G.
32. Now, get your Investment Casting SAND Blasted & not shot blasted as it l
eads to DENT marks on the Casting.
33. Now your INVESTMENT CASTING is Ready.
34. a) How much of Colloidal Silica(Binder) is to be used depends on yo
ur casting.
b) How long OXYGEN gas has to be passed depends on Surface area of the Cast
ing. Larger the Surface area, longer is the time of passing Oxygen.
c) How long the Shell should be Kept in Boiling Water depends on Surface ar
ea of the Casting. Do not keep it longer than required. What is this REQUIRED. W
hen you do not see any foreign matter coming OUT of the Shell, Shell can be take
n out of Water.
I have explained the PROCESS. If you want to start making INVESTMENT Castings, y
ou will have to ESTABLISH Process Parameters for Your Condition.
Here under I am giving the addresses of the suppliers of materials from whom we
procured the materials.
Colloidal Silica(30%).
Dr Khan Industrial Consultants Pvt Ltd,
S-6, Ratnamanjusha, Ravi Industrial Compound, Naupada, Thane-400 602
Cell: 91-932789806
e-mail: dkic@colloidalsilica.com. dkic@vsnl.net.
Fused Quartz.
The Universal Fused Quartz & Allied Products Pvt Ltd, Bangalore.
e-mail: ufq_fusil@hotmail.com.
Contact Person: Mr Shankar Prasad.
Pattern Wax.
M/s Saffroshine Organics Pvt Ltd,
C-73, MIDC, Chincholi, Solapur-413255
Phone:(0217)-2357272, Cell: 91-9890197600.
Contact Person: Mr Rajesh Zade.
e-mail: info@saffroshine.com.
NAV Antifoam
M/s Navya Refractory Products, Bangalore.
e-mail : nutan_ind_pr@sify.com.
Mullite.
M/s Bajaj Associates, Bangalore.
Phone:22281141,22870369.
e-mail: bajajmullite@airtelbroadband.in.
Investment Casting Equipments.
Contact: Mr Vivek Sangle incastt@gmail.com.
Visit: www.incastt.com.
Wetting Agent: Godrej EZEE Soap Solution, which is easily available in t
he market. Earlier we were using nOctonal liquid from Merck paying Rs 2200 per l
itre, but later I changed over to NAV Antifoam, which is priced at Rs 250 per li
tre. As regards to performance of removal of FOAM I did not find any difference.
A word of Caution: If you can get 150# Zircon & 100# Zircon, use them for1st &
2nd Stucco. From 3rd Stucco onwards it is 70#,50#, 30# & 16# Mullite. We used Fu
sed Quartz because of Non-Availability of Zircon. This is an Option. When your S
lurry it self is 325# Fused Quartz, Stuccoing with Fused Quartz should not matte
r. You can also use -325# Zircon Flour for Basic Coating. 200# Zircon for First
Stucco.150# Zircon for Second Stucoo, 100# Zircon for Third Stucco. There after
go for Mullite Stucco-70#,50#, 30# and 16#.
After I started surfing the NET, I got many things BUT not an IOTA of informatio
n on Investment Casting. Then I decided that I will not hold this as a secret, i
nstead publish it in a Foundry Journal so that my fellow countrymen get benefitt
ed. In this regard, I would like to express my deep sense of Gratitude to Mr Bab
u Sathian, MD of M/s Process Pumps (India) Pvt Ltd & M/s Allcast Industries, Ban
galore, for having permitted to author this small Paper.
Before I end my Paper, as I have already stated in the beginning I still do not
know the Science of Investment Castings. This I am saying just to tell you that
if you put your Heart & Soul into it, you can Improvise the PROCESS a great deal
.
Such of those people who want to get into Investment Castings in a big way, you
can not do it the way we did. We did it on the side lines. Make sure that you ha
ve all the equipments in place.