The stainless steel investment casting industry is different from the traditional casting industry. Although China is already the country with the largest casting volume in the world, investment casting is still in the development stage, and there is still a big gap with developed countries.
In recent years, China has vigorously promoted industrialization and the level of science and technology has been continuously improved. There have been some relatively mature technical means in investment casting.
At the same time, China’s demand for investment casting products is also increasing rapidly. Therefore, investment casting, especially stainless steel investment casting, will come with a broad space for development in China.
Development Prospects
Stainless steel investment casting is also called precision casting. This process minimizes or does not perform cutting during the casting process. It is a casting process with less or even no cutting and is an excellent process technology in the foundry industry.
Investment casting comes with a wide range of applications, not only suitable for casting of various types and alloys, but also produces castings with higher dimensional accuracy and surface quality than other casting methods. At the same time, investment casting methods could be used for high-temperature resistant and difficult-to-process castings.
In addition, the investment casting process is not in an ultra-high temperature state during the casting process, so it is more suitable for casting parts in high-precision industries such as aerospace and defense.
Process Characteristics
Because of the smaller size of the transition zone in the investment casting process, it gives the castings a better mechanical performance. The casting temperature of stainless steel investment casting is generally around 715~740℃, which could effectively meet the fluidity of molten metal and avoid the formation of bright crystals.
The ingots for stainless steel investment casting come with a low cracking tendency, which could effectively guarantee the excellent exhaust feeding capacity of ingots and the high density of castings, and its casting temperature is generally high.
The casting temperature of stainless steel investment casting effectively ensures the excellent fluidity of the molten metal during the transfer process. Determining the stainless steel investment casting temperature should be based on a series of factors including the transfer distance, the cooling situation during the transfer process, the flow rate, and the alloy specifications.
Industry Status
In the aerospace equipment and high-end engines of European and North American countries, the added value of investment casting parts accounted for about 70% of the total added value, while China’s accounted for less than 35%.
Although China has become the country with the largest casting output in the world, the added value of casting products is still in the middle and upper reaches and has not yet reached the top level.
Therefore, the fundamental significance of the development of stainless steel investment casting is not only the demand of national defense and science and technology but also an important part of economic development.
Future Trends
There are not many universities or colleges in China engaged in the research of stainless steel investment casting, and they tend to be more inclined to conduct research and development in the laboratory rather than closely connected with major manufacturers.
This status quo is a drawback for the mass production and large-scale promotion of China’s stainless steel investment casting industry. Major manufacturers could establish a joint R&D and production cooperation mechanism with universities so that the technology not only exists in the laboratory but can also be put into the production line.
About Precise Cast
Precise Cast is a technology-based company focusing on stainless steel investment casting. We have introduced first-class production equipment, combined with advanced investment casting technology, which has the advantages of fast production and high efficiency, and could meet the quantitative needs of modern assembly lines.
Our company has passed the ISO9001:2015 quality system certification, each step of the production process is strictly controlled to ensure that our product quality reaches the leading level in the industry. In the future, we will continue to adhere to independent research and development, keep introducing advanced equipment and technology, so as to create humanistic products that are more suitable for market needs.