<p>At the forefront of space and satellite technology, Signicast's advanced investment casting produces the precision metal components that make exploration possible.</p>

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Space & Satellites

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Investment cast rocket engine components can significantly improve engine performance, efficiency, and reliability. This is essential for launching satellites into orbit and for spacecraft propulsion.

Enhanced Part Performance

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Investment cast structural components, such as fairings and adapters, can enhance the structural integrity and reliability of spacecraft. This is crucial for ensuring the safety and mission success of spacecraft.

Improved Spacecraft Structural Integrity

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Investment casting excels at producing precise, durable satellite components like antennas and solar panels, ensuring mission success.

Precision Satellite Components

Investment casting cuts costs and accelerates time-to-market for space components, enhancing competitiveness and meeting industry demands.

Improved Time-To-Market

Space & Satellite Leaders Choose Signicast To Help Achieve Key Goals

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<h1>How to Decide if Investment Casting is Right for You</h1><p></p><p>Is there an existing part currently being machined to achieve a specific geometry? There's a good chance that better results could be achieved with investment casting.</p><p></p><p>For anyone involved in precision components, the manufacturing process you select can have a significant impact on the final result you’ll achieve. It’s why so many design engineers find the arguments for investment casting so compelling. </p><p></p><p>However, this doesn’t mean that investment casting is the ideal solution for every application. Like any manufacturing process, it is better suited to some applications than others. So how do you decide whether investment casting is right for your components?</p><p></p><p>In this short mini-guide, we’ll take you through some of the key areas to consider if you are thinking of converting a part to investment casting. We’ll discuss the common challenges that lead to engineers to think about making a change to investment casting in the first place. We’ll look at the three F’s of form, fit, and function. And we’ll outline some of the cost considerations you’ll need to weigh.</p>

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See how switching from machining or welding to investment casting can reduce costs, simplify assemblies, and improve dimensional consistency.

Converting to Casting | Signicast Whitepaper

This mini-guide explores the key factors to consider when deciding if investment casting is the right manufacturing process for your components, including common challenges, form, fit, function, and cost considerations. 

Making The Move to Investment Casting

<h1>Gating and Solidification: The Key to Eliminating Porosity</h1><p>When turning to the investment casting process, 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, Signicast design engineers 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, material choice 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>Streamlined Finishing, Exceptional Results: The Signicast Advantage</h1><p>Partnering with Signicast for investment casting finishing offers a distinct advantage: a comprehensive suite of secondary operations housed under one roof. This streamlined approach not only guarantees the highest quality cast components but also translates to significant benefits for customers.</p><h3>Efficiency and Cost Savings</h3><p>By eliminating the need to outsource finishing, Signicast's integrated process minimizes lead times and reduces overall production costs. Customers enjoy the convenience of a single point of contact and the assurance that their components are handled with expert care throughout the entire manufacturing journey.</p><h3>Uncompromising Quality</h3><p>From machining and plating to specialized treatments, Signicast's finishing capabilities are second to none. The company's commitment to quality is evident in its state-of-the-art equipment, rigorous in-cycle part checking, and a team of skilled professionals dedicated to delivering consistent, flawless results.</p><h3>Reduced Risk, Increased Confidence</h3><p>Signicast's in-house tool room ensures minimal downtime in the event of unforeseen maintenance issues, further safeguarding customer projects and ensuring on-time delivery. This level of control and responsiveness sets Signicast apart, providing customers with peace of mind and the confidence that their components are in expert hands.</p><h3>From Design to Delivery, One Trusted Partner</h3><p>Signicast's seamless integration of casting and finishing fosters better component design, faster product launches, and fewer errors. By choosing Signicast, customers gain a true one-stop shop for their investment casting needs, backed by a commitment to quality, efficiency, and exceptional customer service.</p>

Discover how in-house finishing, machining, and automation help Signicast deliver final parts faster with tighter control over quality.

Finishing & Machining in Casting | Signicast Article

Signicast's in-house investment casting finishing offers a streamlined, high-quality, and cost-effective solution with reduced risk, ultimately benefiting customers throughout the entire manufacturing process.

Space & Satellites

Enhanced Part Performance

Improved Spacecraft Structural Integrity

Precision Satellite Components

Improved Time-To-Market

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