Stainless steel is one of the most common metals poured for investment casting. Stainless steel is known for its exceptional corrosion resistance and versatility in critical industries such as food and beverage, medical, oil and gas, and petrochemical.
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On a chemical level, stainless steel investment castings contain high levels of chromium which displays corrosion-resistant qualities. For example, SS304 contains up to 21% chromium. Other metal components are best poured with SS316 due to its molybdenum content. Molybdenum is useful in stainless steel alloys for its stability under harsh conditions with high thermal conductivity and a melting point of 4,753°F / 2,620°C.
Milwaukee Precision Casting specializes in pouring all types of stainless steel alloys, including the 300 series, 400 series, precipitation-hardening alloys, and more, tailored to your specific needs. While we frequently work with popular alloys like 304, 316, and 17-4 PH stainless steel, we also offer castings in 410, 416, 420, and 15-5 stainless steel.
All stainless steel investment castings begin with a wax pattern formed by a custom tool. The pattern is dipped into a mixture of sand and slurry and then dried to create a ceramic mold. Next, the mold is “dewaxed” with a high-pressure process that melts out the wax, revealing a hollow ceramic shell. A molten version of the stainless steel is poured into the shell. Once the metal has solidified and the shell has been cut off, the casting can go through final steps such as sandblasting and quality inspection before being sent to additional services, if necessary, such as machining and heat treating.
When it comes to investment casting, quality, precision, and on-time delivery make all the difference. At Milwaukee Precision Casting, we take pride in being an ISO and ITAR-certified foundry, specializing in high-quality stainless steel castings for a wide range of industries.
Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, our full-service foundry produces corrosion-resistant stainless steel castings ranging from 1/10 of an ounce to 50 pounds, with industry-leading tolerances of 0.005 inches per inch. Backed by over a century of combined experience, we offer some of the fastest lead times in the industry, ensuring your project stays on track without compromising on quality.
To request a quote for your stainless steel project, fill out our form or give us a call today!
Suppose you want to manufacture a robust product. In that case, you sometimes need a specific component—with corrosion resistance, high dimensional accuracy, smooth surface finish, complex geometries, and a high level of detail.
If you don’t find it fast, you’ll struggle with higher maintenance costs, expensive machine downtime, and customer complaints.
Your solution might be stainless steel investment casting. They’re the go-to answer for many manufacturers.
Stainless steel investment castings are components manufactured through the investment casting process.
This process begins with a wax pattern created using a 3D CAD model. The wax pattern is then used to create a ceramic mold. This mold is used to produce the stainless steel investment casting. (We’ll explain more in a moment).
Stainless steel investment casting can produce good surface finishes, complicated shapes, a high level of detail, and corrosion resistance. These features are essential for many industries, including:
You can use the investment casting process to produce turbine blades, medical equipment, firearm components, jewelry, golf club heads, gears, pulleys, valve components, doorknobs, medical tooling and equipment, auto parts and components, airplane parts, kitchenware, utensils, cookware, gearbox cases, automotive cylinder heads, cylinder boxes, pipes, tubes, assemblies, plus many other machine components — anything with complex geometry benefits from this technology.
Check out this TFG investment cast Chain Sprocket used in the logging industry.
You’ll get the most significant advantage from using investment castings if your part:
Stainless steel is a common material for industrial and commercial castings because it offers excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, making it long-lasting in harsh environments.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of customized stainless steel investment casting parts. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
The Federal Group (TFG) has extensive experience manufacturing stainless steel investment castings from various alloys to get you the corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, and part geometries that perform best in your application. You’ll derive the following benefits:
Investment casting is thousands of years old. “Investment” refers to the mold being filled or invested with metal. Investment casting was initially used to produce decorations, religious figures, and jewelry. Today, this process makes intricate parts for many industries with brilliant, smooth finishes out of solid and corrosion-resistant metals. Here are the steps:
Your goal as a manufacturing professional is to develop a part that produces the desired function, has the desired appearance, conforms to customer requirements, and has the lowest final cost at a given production volume.
Here’s how investment casting compares to three other metal casting processes:
The information above aims to give you an overview of the process. The complexity of your part and the alloy you need will help you determine your best choice.
Visit our investment casting capabilities page for more information.
Pick a manufacturer not tied to any one metal fabrication technology—one that has a team to guide you through your entire decision-making journey.
Find one that will help you balance out tooling and labor costs against the mechanical and aesthetic requirements of the part—a team of experts to help you understand the lowest final cost of the component at a given production volume.
TFG can help you “do the math.”
Investment means to envelop or surround. The ceramic slurry surrounds the wax pattern to produce the casting mold. So that’s how we get the name investment casting.
Tooling and labor costs are moderate and high, mainly due to the time consumed for the dip-and-dry cycles for the ceramic slurry.
But, if you need complex part geometries and excellent surface finishes, investment casting will give you what you need without spending time and money on extensive post-casting finishing operations.
It’s a balancing act, but many manufacturing professionals recognize the benefits of stainless steel investment castings.
Contact TFG to help you understand and weigh all the factors.
Partner with a supplier who has the heart of a teacher—someone who can help you learn the pros and cons of the many metal fabrication technologies—the costs and the benefits. Then you can make your own informed decision and pick a solution that satisfies both your accounting department and your customer.
Leverage our technical abilities by tapping into our contract manufacturing engineering and manufacturing support.
Let The Federal Group be your sounding board so you can make your best decision.
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