Casting of metal done properly

In the field of metalworking, the process which involves the pouring of liquid metal into a mould which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape necessary is known as casting. After the liquid metal has been poured into the hollow cavity, it is then allowed to cool, so that it takes the shape of the cavity it requires. The solidified metal or cast is then ejected or broken out of the mould and this completes the process. Casting is the most commonly used method to create complex shapes that is very difficult and uneconomical to make using other processes.

For thousands of years, the process of casting metals has been used. This process is generally used to create sculptures of bronze, jewelleries of precious metals like gold and silver and various other weapons and tools. Lost wax casting, plaster mould casting, shell moulding, etc. are some of the traditional forms of casting metal.

The modern method of metal casing has been categorized into two parts – expandable casting and non-expandable casting. These two categories can be even further sub-divided into categories according to the mould materials used like sand and/or metal and into categories according to the pouring method like vacuum or gravity or low pressure.

The 4 popular and main methods of metal casing has been explained as follows –

·       Sand casting is one of the simplest and most popular methods of casting and this method has been used for centuries. This method is used to create small batches of some object and it is also very cheap. Sand casting is a process that can be done in either the longest or shortest of times, depending on the output required

·       Plaster mould casting is also another method of metal casing. It is just like san casting except that the sand is replaced by plaster of Paris. This method is an low-priced moulding process for complex parts because of the low cost of the material required and the plaster’s ability to produce near net shape castings

·       Another method which is very similar to sand casting is shell casting. Here the moulding cavity is formed with a hard shell of sand. The sand is also mixed with a resin so that it can be heated to produce the shape required by the casters

·       The oldest known form of metal casing that has been around for more than 5000 years is lost wax casting or investment casting. The name of the process is so due to the fact that the pattern required is surrounded with a refractory material. The metal which has been cast requires minimum to no rework at all once produced but this process is a bit expensive than the other.