In metallurgy, there are three types of castings. These castings are investment casting, die casting, and sand casting. There are certain differences among these casting techniques. In most industries, investment casting is utilized.
The investment casting companies get a lot of benefits by using the investment casting technique. The most remarkable advantage is it can produce a massive amount of product in less time. We will discuss these differences below.
Differences between Investment Casting and Die casting:
There are many differences between investment casting and die casting. Here, we will discuss some of them.
- First of all, investment casting is an old metallurgical technique. This technique is utilized for manufacturing small metal parts. On the other hand, die casting is relatively a new technique. This technique is used for manufacturing large metal parts.
- In investment casting, you can do various types of small metal structures. This technique gives you the precision to do this kind of stuff. You can also make tiny details with a lot of accuracies. In die casting, you cannot manufacture small metal parts. Die casting will help you to make large metal parts which are usually used in large-scale industries.
- In investment casting, the first step is to dip a solid wax in a liquid ceramic solution. After dipping, the wax is lifted up. As a result, the liquid ceramic adheres with the surface of the wax. After some time, when the ceramic solidifies, it takes the shape of the wax structure. Once the ceramic takes the form of wax, the wax is molten by heating. This leaves a void in the middle of the ceramic mold.
Eventually, the dissolved metal extract is poured into the ceramic mold. As the liquid metal takes the shape of the mold, it breaks the ceramic mold. After that, we can take out the solid metal from the mold. The workers do this entire process in the factories of the investment casting companies. This is how investment casting is done. Although it takes a lot of patience and concentration, the process will yield many high-quality products. Eventually, you will get a lot of benefit from it.
In die casting, the workers dissolve the metal into a molten liquid form. Then the molten liquid is poured into a die cavity. After that, the workers let the metal cool down inside the die cavity. As this entire process is done inside a die cavity, it is called die casting. In contrast, this process takes less time. The workers only pour the metal into the die cavity and leave it to cool down.
- In investment casting, you can create any design or detail with ease. The reason is very simple. You can cut solid wax as you wish. This feature helps you to make any design on the wax. In die casting, wax is not used. That is why the workers cannot create any small designs on the metal parts.
- Investment casting provides a smooth finish on the surface of the metal part. The smooth inner surface of the ceramic mold gives a smooth finish. On the other hand, the ceramic mold is not used in die casting. That is why this technique yields metal products with a rough surface. These differences mentioned above are the most important ones. These differences distinguish both invest casting and die casting from each other. From these differences, you will get a clear idea of Die casting and investment casting.
What is Sand Casting?
Sand casting is another type of casting technique in which the workers use sand in the casting procedure. So, you can see that there are mainly three types of casting techniques.
Conclusion:
In the past, investment casting was the only technique for casting. With the flow of time, metallurgical science improved a lot. So, the metallurgists introduced new casting techniques. These are Die casting and sand casting. These two newly introduced casting techniques covered the drawbacks of investment casting.
Without proper casting, the workers will never make metal parts with proper shape. So, you can see that casting is an essential part of the metal part manufacturing process. Different types of casting techniques are required for different metal parts.
Also Read: Benefits of the Investment Casting
