Investment Casting / Loss-Wax Casting
Investment casting, often also referred to as lost-wax casting, is a multi-step casting process that uses wax replicas to produce finished metal parts. The part or multi-part pattern is created in wax (often by injection molding) and then dipped into a ceramic and stucco bath to form a hard shell around the wax. The wax and ceramic is then placed into an oven so that the wax melts out of the part, leaving only the outer shell with a mold cavity. Molten metal is poured into the shell cavity to form the part or parts, and once cool, are broken out of the shell. Often a cutting or finishing process is required to complete the parts.