Niagara Investment Castings

Tool steels are exceptionally hard, tough, or wear-resistant alloys. Their properties come from both their chemistry and the subsequent heat treatments applied after casting. As their name intimates, these steels are capable of cutting, drilling, punching, hammering, and more. Tool steels are selected for a combination of the properties required to meet their application. There are a group of the more commonly investment cast tool steel alloys which form the bulk of the alloys that are cast at Niagara Investment Castings. These alloys allow our clients to select the closest match to meet most every demanding application they require. For a detailed list of all of these alloys and their descriptions, see: https://bit.ly/48j34yS

In this month's article, we answer: "Can Tool Steels Be Investment Cast?" Tool steels consist of carbon and alloy steels typically used for investment casting components for special applications where the more common steels would fail. These alloys are generally called tool steels because of their high hardness, wear resistance and abrasion resistance. While highly useful for these purposes, one key characteristic of all of them is that they do not provide corrosion resistance, which should be taken into consideration. Tool steels include several different groups of alloys, each providing different levels of strength, surface hardness, toughness, working temperature and shock resistance. To learn more about what we offer or for more information on this topic, see our site: https://bit.ly/48j34yS

Placing an object into a liquid media, and a portion of that liquid remaining on the surface of the object once removed from the media is the process called “investing." As a simple example, placing your arm into a bucket of water and pulling it out leaves your arm wet. You have carried out the investing process by some of the liquid sticking to, and remaining on, your skin. In the investment casting process, the disposable patterns are dipped into the tank of ceramic slurry, and on the initial dip, a thin layer of the liquid ceramic remains on the surface of the pattern. It is dusted with fine sand and allowed to dry to a solid ceramic layer. Following this drying, subsequent investing dips are performed, with the ceramic now adhering to the previously applied layer, until a “shell” is formed that is between ¼ to 3/8” thick. This shell is now ready to have the pattern removed via either steam autoclave or burning it out and firing the green ceramic to form a stronger bond. This fired ceramic is strong enough to withstand the high temperature of the molten metal that will be poured into it. To learn more about the meaning behind the name, see: https://bit.ly/4gvQdx5

The preferred and most cost-effective method of using ceramics for casting is investment casting. This method uses a dipping technique to apply "layers" of the liquid ceramic slurry and loose grains of refractory sand. This layer is allowed to dry, and the process is repeated several times to build a suitably strong shell around the patterns. It is this dipping technique that gave this process the name investment casting. To learn more about the basics of investment casting, read this month's article: https://bit.ly/4gvQdx5

There are many times when non-destructive testing is required by the customer, to ensure either batch conformance, or individual casting certifications, to their specific standard. Examples of industries which rely on our providing certified NDT results of our castings include: - Nuclear Power Industry - High-Pressure Pumps and Valves - Military applications such as Submarines, Ships, and Armoured Vehicles - Aerospace - Oil and Gas Equipment - Chemical Processing Equipment To learn more about non-destructive testing, read our blog: https://lnkd.in/e6msxBmF

While there are many types of non-destructive tests, those most prevalent in the foundry industry are Radiography, Liquid Penetrant Testing, and Magnetic Particle Testing. These are most conducive to the general characteristics of the investment casting process. To learn more about how these different types are conducted and their applications, see this month's blog post: https://lnkd.in/e6msxBmF

'Within approximately 10 weeks since the fire, the finished walls were up. More importantly, however, over 90% of the NIC staff was back at work. As President Borthwick recounts “Our Union Associates were the key to our being able to rise from the ashes as quickly as we did. Our people came back to work in conditions that were challenging, to say the least, but they were 100% dedicated and determined to get our business back up and running and keep our customers happy in the face of this disaster. We could not have done it without each and every one of our Associates”. The plant was once again operational, and back to accepting and scheduling their valued customers’ orders for processing.' To read more about how Niagara Investment Castings faced challenges head-on after a devastating fire took place in 2023, click here: https://lnkd.in/gYSm4skk

For all the wrong reasons, July 24, 2023, is a date that Bob Borthwick (President of NIC), or any of the staff at Niagara Investment Castings for that matter, will not forget. A fire that started during the evening of the first day of the annual summer shutdown had caused significant damage to the facility. As the local newspaper reported the following day, St Catharines firefighters were on scene for about 12 hours after some people noticed the smoke pouring from the building and called 911. Crews had difficulty accessing the building, having to pull back walls off the facility with heavy excavation equipment to extinguish the fire. The entire rear portion of the building, which housed the crucial dewaxing autoclave and wax reclamation equipment, vital to the investment casting process, was destroyed. To read more about the events that took place and a one-year later update of the building rehabilitation, see this month's article: https://lnkd.in/gYSm4skk

This month, we have posted a guide intended to be a good starting point for designers of investment castings. It covers a range of normal linear tolerances, to premium, to others that may fall into their own category, i.e. designing for flatness/straightness vs roundness. For more specific requirements, please consult with qualified Niagara Investment Castings technical personnel who are available to offer advice and assistance regarding these needs. Simply stated … Our goal is to help set you apart from the rest of your competition through partnering with us, because we BOTH benefit through cost-saving innovation. We are an experienced staff of innovative thinkers who are willing to support you in creative product design. Any assistance needed – ranging from understanding investment casting tolerances to full-scale engineering assistance – is available at our offices or yours. To read the guide, see: https://bit.ly/3VWggp5

The investment casting process should be considered as capable of excellent dimensional tolerance and part-to-part reproducibility, Our Investment Casting Design Guide will walk you through the tolerances as there are some sources of variation which need to be considered when designing the casting. 1. Process Capability: Due to normal fluctuations in process parameters, variances of ± .003″ to ± .004″ per inch can be expected. 2. Part Geometry: Most parts are complex in shape and are subject to variation in nominal size due to asymmetry of form and the resulting variable shrinkage rates in different areas of the part. This variation is totally dependent on part configuration and whether it is possible to compensate in the tooling, but it is not uncommon for additional tolerance requirements of ± .004″ per inch due to part shape. (An example of this is a cylinder closed on one end and open on the other. This shape will always “bell mouth” to some degree.) 3. Tooling: Prediction of part shrinkage factors and die makers’ tolerances can add as much as ± .002″ per inch to the total process tolerance requirements. This is especially true when dies require loose pieces and/or mechanically operated pulls. While the investment casting process offers unmatched flexibility compared to most other manufacturing processes, as with any process, there are specific limitations when it comes to investment casting tolerances and what can be expected, and an investment casting should ALWAYS be designed with these limitations in mind. Please remember we are pleased to meet with you or have a discussion over the phone to go over your specific requirements in greater detail. Simply contact us when you are ready. To see our guide, go to: https://bit.ly/3VWggp5