What should I consider when choosing the right casting process? Casting is an ancient manufacturing technique dating back to 1838. However, the basic casting process has not changed much. Now the machines are more advanced. As technology improves, there are many different ways to meet the requirements.

First, the die casting process:

Die casting companies say that during die casting, molten metal is injected into the hardened steel mold cavity. When the metal solidifies, it pops out of the tool and this process is repeated. The process is different depending on the material you choose, including hot chamber and cold chamber die casting. Hardened steel molds can manufacture 150,000 to more than 1 million die-castings anywhere that then need to be repaired or replaced.

Second, the investment casting process

Die casting companies introduce investment casting, also known as lost wax casting, including pressing wax, wax repair, tree grouping, slurry, molten wax, casting molten metal and post-treatment processes. Lost wax casting is to make a wax mold of the part to be cast with wax, and then apply mud to the wax mold, which is the mud model. After the clay mold dries, it is placed in hot water to melt the internal wax mold. After the wax mold melts, take out the clay mold and bake it into a ceramic mold, once baked. Usually, when making a clay mold, a sprue is left, and then the molten metal is poured from the sprue, cooled, and the desired part is made.

Die casting companies point out that most die castings are made from non-ferrous metals such as zinc, aluminum, and magnesium. Investment casting can be used to cast non-ferrous metals, including stainless steel. If you want to use non-metallic materials, the machining process provides quite a bit of characteristic. But if you want to use stainless steel or copper alloy, casting is a better choice.

Comparison of molding cycle times for die casting and casting:

While casting and die casting to produce complex parts, the cycle time varies greatly, traditional investment casting requires considerable manpower and time, while die casting produces 3-4 times per minute, multi-slide die casting up to 45 times per minute. Die-cast parts can often be created without human automation!

Die casting company said that die casting mold as an important process equipment for the production of die casting, is very important for production and quality, because the working environment of the mold is very harsh, the mold cavity and flow channel are repeatedly washed by high temperature and high pressure molten metal.

Cost difference analysis of die casting and casting:

Cycle time determines 60% of the cost, die casting companies say, so it's no surprise that casting costs here are usually higher than die casting costs. Its highly manual process produces parts that are very similar to die castings, but with much longer cycles.

When pouring in large volumes, the cost performance of castings is higher than that of investment casting. If you only have one or a few castings of the required size or large stainless steel, casting may be a less costly option.