Cast Iron Investment Casting Process
Same as alloy steel casting, carbon steel casting can be produced in two kinds of different casting processes: Silica Sol Casting and Water Glass Casting.
Silica Sol Casting: Lost wax casting method for carbon steel casting. This casting process can control carbon steel castings within tolerance CT5-6.
Also, the surface finish will be much better. The only consideration of selecting this process is its high production cost.
If you have high demands on your carbon steel castings, this is the best choice.
Water Glass Casting:This type of casting process can make carbon steel castings with tolerance CT7-CT8.
Most carbon steel castings use a water glass casting process for their low cost. In China, around 75% of casting foundries are water glass,
casting manufacturers. Looking for cost savings? Maybe this is the answer.
We also have the capabilities of furnishing secondary operations such as machining,
non-destructive testing, heat treat, surface treatment, and final assembly.
Carbon Steel Casting Grades can be met as customer’s requirements in different countries’ standards.
Our Carbon Steel Investment Casting Process
...How do we make the carbon steel casting products...
Cast Iron Materials
Cast Iron
Cast Iron is a group of iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content greater than 2%. It is distinguished by its excellent machinability,
damping properties, and wear resistance, making it a versatile material used across various applications. Cast Iron is categorized into different classes and types,
such as Gray Iron (including ASTM A48 from Class 20 to Class 40), which is known for its graphitic microstructure that imparts the material with unique mechanical properties.
Key Features of Cast Iron
Cast Iron grades offer ease of machining, allowing for the efficient production of complex shapes and sizes.
Good Machinability:
Mid carbon steel contains medium levels of carbon content and is known for its wear resistance.
Vibration and Sound Damping:
Notably high in Gray Iron, these properties make it ideal for reducing noise and vibration in machinery.
Corrosion Resistance:
Enhanced resistance compared to unalloyed steels, making it suitable for a wide range of environments.
Compression Strength:
Cast Iron exhibits excellent strength under compression, making it highly durable under load.
Cost-Effectiveness:
Offers a cost-efficient alternative for many industrial applications due to its durability and ease of production.
Why Choose Qianhao Cast Iron Investment Castings
Our Capabilities for Cast Iron Investment Castings
We are well equipped and experienced to produce carbon steel castings with tight tolerances and outstanding repeatability.
We use modern melting methods to produce carbon steel investment castings with consistent hardness and strength.
We also perform secondary operations such as machining of critical surfaces and threaded holes and can provide anti-corrosion properties of the parts using surface treatments like plating or other coatings as required. Carbon steel cast parts are also commonly heat treated to improve their ductility, strength and other mechanical properties. Our team consists of experts who have extensive experience working with a wide range of carbon steels. Our investment casting manufacturing process is certified to AS9100 and ISO 9001.
Precision Machining Services
Starting from machining and dedicated to machining for 30 years, Qianhao is matchless regardless of technology, equipment and capacity in the industry.
Machining operation is the core and biggest competitiveness of Qianhao. It is not a workshop, but a factory which has been equipped with advanced and complete equipment,
and has a complete management team. There have in place independent engineering team, production team, QA team and Supply Chain team to support its activities.
The machining blanks cover raw (steel) castings from Huawei foundry and outsourced iron castings, forgings, profiles, etc.
The company's powerful machining capabilities is the strong pillar for providing customer with precision machined castings & forgings and profiles.Our capabilities include turning, milling ,
tapping, broaching, drilling, & many other processes to fit your needs.
Surface Treatment Services
Qianhao is located in one of the most developed industrial areas of China, which means a rich supporting industrial chain give strong impetus to our industrial development. All surface treatments are available around us and these plants meet and pass the government's environmental requirements. They have rich experience in processing export products. They are also our trusted partners. Except painting, other surface treatment jobs are contracted to them.
| ● KTL（E-coating) | ● Zinc Plating |
| ● Mirror Polishing | ● Sand Blasting |
| ● Acid Pickling | ● Black Oxide |
| ● Wet Painting | ● Hot Galvanizing |
| ● Powder Coating | ● Nickel Plating |
| ● Vibration grinding | ● Anti Rust Dip |
Cast Iron Investment Casting Products We Have Made for Our Customers
Qianhao handles each job with an optimal process to achieve the lowest cost, best quality, and highest efficiency.
How We Control Our Cast Iron Investment Casting Products Quality
Quality is central to everything we do. It is our level of commitment to deliver a high quality product, ensured by a tight process control, that means we are able to repeatedly exceed our customers’ expectations.
Every employee at Qianhao is responsible for vigilantly watching over every step of our input and output processes.Our products go through strict quality checks at every workstation to achieve maximum quality control
for each manufacturing process.
Qianhao facilities is equipped with 40 plus state-of-the-art testing equipment in our industry, including Spectrometer,
Metallographic Microscope, Tension Tester, Low Temperature Tester, X-ray Tester, MPT, UT, CMM, Video Measurement Machine,
3D Scanner and so on. The strict testing and inspection processs guarantee high quality of our products in the aspects of chemical composition,
mechanical properties, non-destructive testing and high precise dimensional inspections.
Cast Iron Investment Casting With Qianhao Foundry
Steadfast devoting to the field of precision casting and machining for 30 years
Qianhao is a leading and globally recognized brand for complex and high-tech castings in the area of automobile, rail, construction equipment, material handling equipment and agricultural machinery.
Steadfast devoting to the field of precision casting and machining for 30 years and with strong engineering capabilities, complete quality assurance system and advanced management system, and deep industry expertise,our world class foundry provides these global industry leaders and medium-to-high end western customers with the highest quality products, services and solutions.
Top 500 Companies Choose to Cooperate with Us
We have many OEM customers in railway, automobile, construction equipment, material handling equipment industries and have become the important supplier of the Top 500 companies in the world.
FAQ of Cast Iron Investment Casting
1. What are the characteristics of Cast Iron Investment Casting?
Carbon steel investment castings are characterized by their high carbon content, which provides a high-strength, ductile steel suitable for use under high-pressure conditions. Carbon steel can withstand high stress and is therefore ideal for mechanical and structural applications. It is softer than other steels, has lower tensile strength, and is not suitable for heat treatment. Carbon steel castings are commonly used in automotive and construction applications, including fasteners, bolts, shafts, rods, pins, components, and more.
Low and medium carbon alloy steels contain varying amounts of nickel, chromium or molybdenum to improve their durability and toughness as well as corrosion resistance.
2: What metal products can Cast Iron Investment Casting services produce?
As mentioned earlier, carbon steel investment castings are largely chosen for various applications in several industries. These include automotive, military, oil and gas, mining, and commercial to name a few. Example carbon steel castings are as follows:
- Cranks
- Handles
- Brackets
- Firearm components
- Housings
- Valves
- Gears
- Nozzles
- Bi-Pods
- Hinges
3: Is the Cast Iron Investment Casting process expensive?
The technique is more complex than other casting processes, requiring extensive preparation and specialized equipment. Therefore, the upfront cost of investment casting can be more expensive than sand casting or die casting. But the unit production cost decreases with the increase of order quantity.
4: What is the process of Cast Iron Investment Casting?
- Create wax pattern: A pattern that replicates the finished part geometry is made using one of two primary methods:
- Wax Assembly: Next, the wax patterns are assembled onto runners and into a finished tree which is ready to be dipped.
- Slurry Coating: The assembly is then dipped into a high-grade ceramic slurry to build a ceramic shell around the wax tree.
- Stuccoing: After the slurry coating is done, particles of sand are dropped onto the surface of the wet tree assembly. This helps to thicken and strengthen the layer of coating on the wax assembly surface.
- Repeat Steps 5 and 6: Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the assembly achieves the desired shell thickness. The assembly is then allowed to set and dry.
- Dewaxing: The wax inside the newly built shell is now removed. Dewaxing is done using a steam-dewaxing autoclave or flash fire furnace.
- Casting: Now the desired molten metal is poured into the pre-heated mold cavity.
- Cooling: The mold then sits to allow the molten metal to cool and solidify which then becomes the final casting.
- Shell Removal: The shell material is then removed through processes hammer knockout, vibration, and steel grit blasting.
- Cut Off: The finished parts are then cut free from the gating and runner system.
- Finishing: Various finishing techniques are then employed including grinding, sand blasting and coating to achieve the final surface needed.
- Testing: Once the finishing operations are done, the parts are inspected for surface and sub-surface defects. Visual and fluorescent penetrant inspection is done for surfaces and X-ray is employed for sub-surface defect identification.
5: What’s the difference between cast iron and cast steel??
Cast iron usually refers to gray iron, ductile iron and malleable iron. Which is an iron casting with carbon content higher than 2%.
Cast steel usually refers to normal carbon steel and alloy steel. Which is a steel casting with carbon content lower than 2%.
Therefore, no big difference from the chemical content and raw materials for cast iron vs cast steel.
Corrosion Resistance
When it comes to corrosion, iron has better corrosion resistance than steel. That doesn't mean that either is impervious to corrosion though.
When left unprotected, both metals will oxidize in the presence of moisture. Eventually, they will completely decompose. To prevent this, the coating is recommended for both steel and iron castings.
Cost
Cast iron is often cheaper than cast steel because of the lower material costs, energy, and labor required to produce a final product.
While raw steel is more expensive, there are, however, prefabricated forms of steel. Those include sheets, rods, bars, tubes, and beams.
Castability
Cast iron is relatively easy to cast, as it pours easily and doesn't shrink as much as steel. This flowability makes cast
iron an ideal metal for architectural or ornate ironwork structures such as fencing and street furniture.
6: How much do Cast Iron Investment Casting cost?
Generally speaking, our platform must consider several factors before generating a quotation, including the size of the part, the complexity of the mold, the number of castings, materials, post-processing requirements, etc.