<p>Signicast’s advanced investment casting delivers precision metal components that power innovation in the commercial and industrial parts industry.</p>

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Investment casting is particularly well-suited for producing complex components with intricate details, undercuts, or thin-walled sections.

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Investment casting offers precision and accuracy. For example, precisely cast engine parts can enhance fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

Improved Performance and Efficiency

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Investment casting often results in long-term cost savings. The smooth surface finish and reduced need for post-processing can significantly reduce manufacturing time and costs.

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Products that are safety-critical or subject to rigorous performance standards rely on investment casting to produce high-quality parts.

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Commercial and Industrial Part Leaders Choose Signicast To Help Achieve Key Goals

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<h1>Gating and Solidification: The Key to Eliminating Porosity</h1><p>When turning to the <a href="/investment-casting/process" target="_self">investment casting process</a>, it is important to understand all of the factors that go in to making a successful part. One of the first steps to avoid part failure is to ensure the required soundness of a part before it is cast. Investment casting is one of the few manufacturing processes that can preliminarily demonstrate component success. </p><h2>Gating systems</h2><p>When designing an investment cast part, the gate location and size must be taken into consideration. The gate is a small opening that allows molten metal to flow freely to the cavity and can be thought of as the connection point between the feeding source, or sprue, and the part. The gate is ideally located on the thickest and heaviest section of the casting, allowing the metal to continuously flow and fill the part in its entirety before solidifying.</p><h2>How Metal Solidifies During Casting</h2><p>Metal solidification is a critical factor in understanding gating. As molten steel cools from its initial pouring temperature of approximately 3000°F to its solidifying temperature of roughly 2500°F, it undergoes volumetric shrinkage. This shrinkage continues as the metal solidifies and then again as it cools to room temperature, due to thermal expansion.</p><p>To illustrate, a 1" x 1" x 1" cube, when filled with molten steel, will shrink to approximately 0.96" x 0.96" x 0.96" at room temperature. This volumetric change necessitates careful consideration of part geometry and gate location and size. Proper design ensures that the casting is continuously fed with liquid metal to compensate for shrinkage as solidification progresses.</p><h2>What makes a successful cast part?</h2><h3>Gate location and size</h3><p>After understanding the basics of metal solidification, we can start to determine the size and location of the gate. If gate details are not taken into account, the gate could solidify before the metal has the opportunity to fill the casting and replace lost volume. This could create large pockets within the part that are not fully filled, also known as internal porosity. Porosity refers to the level of solidity achieved, that is, whether there are cavities or holes within the part. If a component is not carefully gated with part function in mind, this could lead to part failure.</p><h3>Part design</h3><p>The gate is not the only determining factor in eliminating porosity. Part geometry can impact the directional solidification of the metal. The design must account for making thermal gradients steep enough to keep the feed paths clear from the sprue to the part. Since parts do not solidify all at once, and they cool from the outside in, a quality design will allow for the metal to cool away from the gate, first. An icicle shape is the prime example of a perfect casting, with the tip freezing first and the remainder of the icicle freezing from the smallest sections back through to the thickest section (the water source).</p><p>In designs that show initial porosity, adding features like feed ribs can eliminate any unwanted pockets. Part design can also be enhanced with structural changes, like tapering bottom floors, to reduce porosity. In some instances, however, part geometries cannot be altered. We can take advantage of radiant heat, designing the gate with inconsequential arms that keep thin walls hot enough to feed the part, including end plates, as it solidifies.</p><p>In working closely with customers, <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">Signicast design engineers</a> are able to better understand part function and optimize part geometry to meet the requirements of the application.</p><h2>Casting Material Selection</h2><p>In addition to design considerations, <a href="/materials/metal-selector-tool" target="_self">material choice</a> directly impacts porosity within a part and the solidification of a casting. Each element within an alloy has different solidifying temperature, making an alloy like 17-4 stainless steel have a larger temperature range as it goes from a liquid to a solid due to the amount of elements within the alloy. The large temperature range inhibits flow, making it less forgiving than a low carbon steel. Knowing material requirements on the frontend of the project, design engineers have a better opportunity to predict part success and limit porosity before moving to the tooling stage.</p><p>Before heading into full production with a part design, it is important to identify potential porosity issues. At Signicast, we use solidification and flow software to determine the efficacy of gating locations and predict casting porosity to validate the design. Our design engineers can help make beneficial design suggestions that will result in successful parts without delaying time to market.</p>

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Dive into how optimized gating and controlled cooling eliminate voids and ensure structural soundness in investment cast components.

Shrink Porosity Solutions | Investment Casting Article

Gating and solidification are crucial in investment casting to eliminate porosity; gate location, part design, and material selection directly impact the success of castings. 

Gating and Solidification: the Key to Elimination Porosity

<h1>Fit Form Function FAQs</h1><p>Part design is crucial to the success of any component. It's essential for the overall success of a project to remain on track in terms of timelines and deliverables. A supplier requesting a design for manufacturing review may seem like a potential hindrance, but an initial design review at the project's outset could save costs related to the fit, form, and function of the part, thanks to input from <a href="/additional-capabilities/engineering" target="_self">investment casting design experts</a>. Below are some frequently asked questions about the investment casting process and how our team of highly trained engineers can enhance the design of parts.</p><h2>Is my part too heavy for investment casting?</h2><p>Just like any other manufacturing process, there are limitations with investment casting. In multiple steps throughout the <a href="/investment-casting/process" target="_self">investment casting process</a>, the molds must meet certain weight requirements. Molds themselves have weight restrictions based on the type of alloy poured, maxing out at 100 to 120 pounds and meeting the industry weight standard. At other stages, molds are handled manually, or even automatically by Signicast’s state-of-the-art automation and robotics systems, requiring strict weight and safety restrictions.</p><h2>Does surface area cause limitations?</h2><p>There are three areas in which surface area has limitations—dip cells for the ceramic shell-building process, dewaxing where steam pressure is used to remove the wax from the shell, and then the burnout ovens.</p><h3>Dip</h3><p>The more surface area the part has, the more viscous slurry sticks, increasing the weight of the sprue and causing weight limitations for the robot.</p><h3>Dewax</h3><p>Now that there is a fully injected and dipped mold, there is the weight of the wax and the added weight of the ceramic shell. In this stage, there are personnel safety weight limitations to safely transport the molds in the plant.</p><h3>Burnout Oven</h3><p>The molds are fired to 1800℉, and once the temperature is reached, it's essential to ensure that the molds are still handled safely.&nbsp;</p><h2>How do I take full advantage of the investment casting process?</h2><p>As previously mentioned, almost every design will likely encounter a geometry, pour weight, or shell weight limitation during the initial mold design phase.</p><p>However, through a Design for Manufacturing (DFM) meeting, the&nbsp;Signicast engineering team collaborates to address potential limitations, <a href="/additional-capabilities/product-optimization-and-added-value" target="_self">increasing the value of the part</a> from the outset. The part effectively "rents" space on a mold, so any changes or features added to the design are essentially free, as long as the footprint of the mold remains unchanged.</p><p>For instance, holes or bosses can be added to the design without increasing the overall footprint of the part. The number of pieces on the mold, as well as the piece part price, will stay the same. Small price implications might be added to the tool cost.</p><p>In a recent project, the Signicast Engineering team reduced a customer's piece part price from $23 to $18—a cost reduction of almost 30%. This price reduction wasn't due to the alloy cost, but rather a design change that allowed for more pieces per mold. The initial customer DFM session also leveraged the full benefits of the investment casting process by adding lettering, lot codes, part numbers, and logos on the parts at no additional cost.</p><h2>When should I consider alloy and heat treatment selection?</h2><p><a href="/materials/metal-selector-tool" target="_self">Alloy selection</a> and heat treatment are often considered early in the design process and not revisited later.</p><p>Some customers utilize cutting and grinding tools. A knife blade design, initially machined from solid 420 steel, was brought in for review. After discussing the part's function and conducting a DFM call, the in-house metallurgist suggested D2 tool steel. The result was a sevenfold increase in wear resistance, significantly extending the part's service life.</p><p>Considering heat treatment is also crucial. For parts requiring heavy machining, heat treatment and homogenization of the material before machining are recommended to minimize hard spots and broken tools. However, if extensive machining isn't necessary, heat treatment might be eliminated entirely.</p><h2>How can I eliminate machining and ultimately cut costs?</h2><p>By simply designing an investment casting with certain features, machining can be avoided, eliminating a significant cost associated with the part.</p><p>The engineering team frequently encounters prints with surface finish callouts. This often adds unnecessary costs. Many features machined on the casting are for size, position, or flatness. A surface finish callout is only necessary if it's for a sealing surface, O-ring groove, or a press fit. The DFM process can often help eliminate one or two machine passes, or even reduce the overall machining cycle time.</p><h2>How long does a DFM meeting take?</h2><p>The meeting duration typically ranges from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the part's complexity and the potential areas for improvement identified by the engineering team. Within this timeframe, the team can conduct a comprehensive DFM call and conclude with actionable steps to enhance the quote or RFQ.</p>

Read answers to top engineering questions about investment casting tolerances, wall thickness, shrink factors, and dimensional control strategies.

Casting Fit, Form, Function | Signicast Article

See frequently asked questions about the investment casting process, including design limitations, optimizing part design, alloy selection, and how to reduce costs through design for manufacturing (DFM). 

Fit, Form, Function FAQs

<p>Adding a new offering to a business that's going to change the game for construction customers is great, but the last thing anyone wants is for its parts to crumble and repairs to soar.</p><p>Kodi Klip—designed to enhance the intricate task of connecting rebar with increased safety, speed, and strength—experienced two years of growing pains before Signicast stepped in to help.</p><h2>Casting Reliability Reinforced at Lojac</h2><p>Signicast played a pivotal role in assisting LoJac, Kodi Klip’s majority owner, in transforming this innovative reinforcing solution into a rock-solid success. </p><p>For Tennessee brick-and-block construction manufacturer LoJac, leading the regional building industry with a 75% market share comes with the expectation of reliability.</p><p>When the company discovered inventor Jon Kodi’s “Kodi Klip,” named Most Innovative Product at a World of Concrete expo in 2015, they were wowed.</p><p>Here was a hand-held, air-gun-like tool that, when triggered, automatically fastens a clip to intersecting rods of rebar. This helped workers to avoid the back-breaking, slow, and injury-prone labor of manual wire-tying.</p><p>“There's an immediate wow factor, and people totally get it. It's one of those innovations that can seriously change the construction world,” says LoJac Chief Operating Officer Kellie Mires.</p><p>The company partnered with Kodi in March of 2016. But the tools that had been produced in its early generations faced a big problem of failure in the field.</p><p>“As soon as it would hit the rebar the nozzle just fell apart,” says Aroll Jones, Customer Sales Director for Kodi Klip. “It would be sent back in crumbled pieces.”</p><p>By the time LoJac began managing the Kodi Klip business, the product was in its second generation, and LoJac saw firsthand how urgent the reliability issue was.</p><h3>A Solution-Driven Approach</h3><p>Kevin Blair, LoJac’s Equipment Director, says “The original nozzle was machined aluminum which was very brittle. We had to add a protector to it after assembly to keep it from being damaged on rebar.”</p><p>That brought the part count higher. And the repairs kept coming.</p><p>“We were repairing as many 50 or 60 per month, and more than 80% were because of broken nozzles. You would do a repair, send it back out, and a month and a half later it would come back with another broken nozzle. You can't do that. It's bad for business, bad for the customer, and bad all the way around.”</p><p>It became imperative for the company to solve the quality issues before mass-producing a product that would have LoJac’s brand attached to it.</p><h2>Converting to Investment Casting</h2><p>Signicast had learned about the nozzle failures from its inventor, so when LoJac took over management of the business, a solution had already been proposed.</p><p>To address the strength issue, Signicast designed a carbon steel solution— a material far stronger than aluminum. “But also, we made it one piece rather than two separate pieces,” Ellis says, which would give the nozzle more structural integrity in use. And finally, the new part would undergo <a href="/investment-casting" target="_self">investment casting</a> instead of machining, resulting in a stronger and more reliable piece.</p><p>However, the true test would unfold in the field—and within LoJac’s equipment shop.</p><h3>Casting a Product That Lasts</h3><p>“In six months, we’ve put 300 or so into the field, and we have yet to have a nozzle failure,” says Blair. “And as more of them get out and replace the older generation, the repairs just keep going down.”</p><p>Signicast’s solution also yields another benefit: with tooling developed, future production runs can be executed with <a href="/investment-casting/automation" target="_self">total project automation</a>, just-in-time quantities and schedules prescribed by LoJac.</p><p>“Going with Signicast has made such a big difference. We’re finally able to tell the market, ‘Yes, you can get it today. Yes, we know it will last,’” says Jones. “When the tool is done, when it hits the field, it's exactly what it needs to be and it's working the way it was designed.”</p>

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Discover how Signicast delivered consistent quality for Lojac’s high-demand components, improving uptime and reducing defect rates.

Reliable Casting for Lojac | Signicast Case Study

LoJac partnered with Signicast to improve the Kodi Klip's reliability, leading to a stronger product and increased customer satisfaction. 

Commercial & Industrial Parts

Commercial and Industrial Part Leaders Choose Signicast To Help Achieve Key Goals

Production of Complex Components

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Reduced Manufacturing Costs

Enhanced Product Quality

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Commercial and Industrial Part Applications

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