When wax is used as pattern, investment casting is also called "lost wax casting". Investment casting usually refers to a casting scheme that makes a pattern of fusible materials, wraps several layers of refractory materials on the surface of the pattern to make a mold shell, and then melts the pattern out of the mold shell, so as to obtain a mold without parting surface. After being baked at high temperature, it can be filled with sand for pouring. Since wax materials are widely used to make patterns, investment casting is often called "lost wax casting".
The types of alloys that can be produced by investment casting are carbon steel, alloy steel, heat-resistant alloy, stainless steel, precision alloy, permanent magnet alloy, bearing alloy, copper alloy, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy and ductile iron.
The shape of investment castings is generally complex. The minimum diameter of the castable hole on the castings can reach 0.5mm, and the minimum wall thickness of the castings is 0.3mm. In production, some parts originally composed of several parts can be designed into integral parts by changing the structure of the parts and directly cast by investment casting, so as to save processing time and metal material consumption, and make the structure of the parts more reasonable.
