This article is divided into five parts to introduce investment casting molds.
a. Introduction to the application of investment casting molds
b. Determination of the pouring system before manufacturing the mold
c. Manual mold VS automatic mold
d. Precautions and optimization points for investment casting mold manufacturing
e. Investment casting mold life
1. Introduction to the application of investment casting molds
Investment casting mainly has four major processes: wax making-shell making-casting-post-processing. After completing these four major processes, castings can be produced, and subsequent processes can be processed or surface treated according to customer requirements. And these four major processes can be divided into more than 20 subdivided processes.
The investment casting mold we are going to introduce today is a mold used in the wax-making process, that is, a mold for making wax patterns. As shown below. It is not what everyone imagines, the molten steel is directly introduced into the mold, and the mold of the investment casting is not in contact with the molten steel. Therefore, the mold material and production application difficulty of investment casting is relatively small. Compared with injection molds, forging molds, and powder metallurgy molds, the application of materials is simpler.
2. Determination of the pouring system before manufacturing the mold
Before developing the manufacturing mold, the technical team needs to determine the design of the gating system. Because the confirmation of the gating system plan directly affects the confirmation of the position of the sprue, the confirmation of the corresponding wax stick of the product, and the structure of the wax stick has innovative changes, the foundry also needs to develop the mold of the wax stick simultaneously. These tasks must be confirmed before mold development, otherwise, there will be a situation of passive technology and passive delivery in the sample development process.
According to statistics, more than 90% of casting errors are usually caused by wrong casting system design, and only 10% are caused by out-of-control parameters during design and production. Many design errors can be found in time using the simulation pouring software to modify the design or process parameters. This ensures that no major problems arise during the production of castings and also prevents the high cost of wrong castings. The so-called “trial and error” process is a thing of the past in foundries. This saves a lot of time and money and optimizes the casting process and casting quality very efficiently.
3. Manual mold VS automatic mold
Generally, there are only three situations in which we provide customers with manual mold solutions.
1) Products whose structure is too complex to open automatic molds
2) The size of the product is too large to open the automatic mold
3) Products with a small order quantity
In addition to the above three special cases, we generally only provide customers with automatic molds, because automatic molds not only have a long life, the quality and size of the manufactured products are stable, but also have high efficiency, which can greatly shorten the product delivery time, thereby greatly improving the quality of service to customers.
4. Precautions and optimization points for investment casting mold manufacturing
Here, according to our 30 years of experience in mold production, the factory has certain standards for mold production. Here are four examples.
1). Nylon rods should be installed on the surface of the mold cavity, which can protect the cavity surface from bumping when the mold is opened and closed, thereby prolonging the life of the mold.
2). The mold is nitrided to increase the hardness of the mold, slow down the wear of the mold, and improve the quality and stability of the wax mold.
3). The slider is positioned with inclined guide columns, which reduces the number of pins to be pulled out and improves work efficiency.
4). The slider is used as a limit to avoid collision between the slider and the workbench, reduce mold loss, prolong mold life, speed up mold loading, and improve production efficiency.
5. Investment casting mold life
In general, the lifespan of manual molds is 50,000, and that of automatic molds is 500,000. Combined with the advantages of automatic molds, we will give priority to recommending customers to choose automatic molds, and automatic molds are also the choice of most customers.
Since investment casting molds are used in the manufacture of wax patterns, the cost is much cheaper than molds manufactured by other industries. This is also a major advantage of the investment casting process, which can help customers use relatively low development costs. to develop new projects.
XJL is a factory with nearly 30 years of casting experience. It focuses on the production of investment castings with composite process and silica sol process. It can produce carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, and high-temperature alloys. Customized drawings can provide customers with forward-looking comprehensive casting solutions and supporting machining services for casting customers. If you have any inquiries related to investment casting, please feel free to contact us for consultation.
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