Rapid Investment Casting: Design and Manufacturing Technologies

Abstract

With the emergence of new metal AM (additive manufacturing) methods, rapid IC (investment casting), a variation of conventional investment casting has been a popular topic of research in the fields of: aerospace, dentistry and biomedical engineering. RIC (Rapid investment casting) takes advantage of the additive nature of 3D printing for pattern making which allows for more complex castings than traditional investment casting. RIC is a manufacturing process that combines the casting knowledge accumulated over five thousand years with relatively novel AM knowledge. The result is a process that can compete with newer metal AM methods with the added benefits of excellent surface finish, fatigue strength and the ability to create parts from almost any metal or metal alloy. This article will focus on research advancements in investment casting, AM and all the topics that are closely related to optimizing these two processes. Beyond that, aerospace, dentistry and biomedical engineering advancements using investment casting will be reviewed.

Analysis and Design of Lattice Structures for Rapid-Investment Casting

“…Current research is focused on using design optimization in the hopes of reducing the likelihood of casting defects. RIC has similar gating and feeding system design considerations as IC but with the added AM design considerations [17]. These principles can be combined to cast a structurally optimized metal component [18].…”