Lost wax, also known as "lost wax investment casting" or precision casting, is one of the casting methods for manufacturing metal products. In the past, it was used to make Buddha statues, kangaroos, tripods, etc., but now it is used to make various products and parts. For example, some familiar products such as rings, as well as some connecting rods, cranks and other parts are widely used.

What is lost wax investment casting?

The lost wax casting method uses beeswax to make a model of the casting, and then uses other refractory materials to fill the mud core and form the outer model. After heating and baking, the wax mold is completely melted and lost, so that the entire casting model becomes an empty shell, and then the molten liquid is poured into it, thereby casting the utensils. Objects cast by the lost wax method will have the effect of exquisite carving and hollowing out.

The development of lost wax casting method

Lost wax is a high-precision casting method for casting utensils and carving complex utensils. China is the first country in the world to invent the lost wax casting method. As early as the Tang Dynasty, the lost wax bronze casting ware has appeared. In the book "Tang Hui Yao" written by Wang Pu, the prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was recorded that the wax mold was used to cast Kaiyuan Tongbao in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, which is the earliest record of the lost wax method in China.

From the inspection of the bronze objects, the bronze ban unearthed in 1979 from the tomb of Yin Zigeng, the commander of the State of Chu, Xichuan County, Henan Province. Cast in wax.

According to research, Zigeng died in 552 BC, and its relative age should belong to the late Spring and Autumn Period. Its discovery has greatly advanced the time when ancient Chinese bronzes were cast by the lost wax method, thus taking the lead in the world.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of lost wax casting?

✔️Advantages

The biggest advantage is that lost wax bronze casting has high dimensional accuracy and surface finish, it can reduce the machining work, just leave a little machining allowance on the parts with higher requirements, and even some castings only the grinding and polishing allowance is left, and it can be used without machining. It can be seen that the use of investment casting method can save a lot of machine tool equipment and processing time, and greatly save metal raw materials.

Another advantage is that lost wax can precision cast complex castings of various alloys, especially precision casting superalloy castings, such as jet engine blades, whose streamlined outline and cooling cavity are almost impossible to form with mechanical processing technology. Production by investment casting process can not only achieve mass production, ensure the consistency of castings, but also avoid the stress concentration of residual knife lines after machining.

❌Disadvantages and Limitations

• casting size can not be too large;
• complex process;
• casting cooling rate is slow;

Among all the blank forming methods, investment casting has a complex process and high casting cost, but if the product is properly selected, the parts are designed reasonably, and the high casting cost is compensated by reducing cutting processing, assembly and saving metal materials, etc. In a word, investment casting has good economics.

To sum up, the lost wax casting has existed many years, and its technology has improved little by little and been gradually more and more mature. Therefore, today, there are more and more lost wax items appeared in our lives facilitating our lives. We are a lost wax bronze casting manufacturer, for more information, please contact us no matter where and when you want, we are glad to serve you.