The History of Investment Casting

Investment casting is a process that goes back thousands of years, being used for projects such as ornaments and jewelry. This process was done all across the ancient world, with examples found in areas such as Mexico, Mesopotamia, and Egypt! Amazingly enough, its earliest forms used beeswax to form the necessary patterns for the casting process and are one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques.

Steel casting came into prominence in the modern world in the late 19th century, as dentist uses is for crowns and inlays for their patients. This usage increased exponentially in the 1940s when there was a high demand for precision net shape manufacturing for specialized items which were not able to be shaped by more common methods.

Seeing that success, investment casting grew in popularity for a wide range of commercial and industrial uses, being valued because it can produce metal components in an accurate and repeatable way. It was the best way to allow for versatility while still keeping the integrity of the metals and high-performance alloys.

Today, precision investment casting allows you to design functional components by casting features which are utilized as a cast. This helps give you near net shape capabilities for anything from door locking hardware to gas turbine components and anything in between. This technology provides you with the ability to have design flexibility to create a highly versatile project, testing out your approach to making sure it works how you would like.

This process is typically done in an investment casting foundry such as our facility in Reynosa, TX, just 8 miles south of the Texas-Mexico border. Our facility features state-of-the-art equipment in a modern industrial park, with extensive manufacturing and lean resources to ensure sustainability. Our foundry works closely with our business headquarters, creating a synergy that allows for close collaboration between our warehouse and our clients in the United States.

The technology of investment casting companies today allows for rapid prototyping, providing users with sample castings more quickly and more cheaply than in the past. At Intercast, we use a 3D printed pattern to deliver metal prototypes, ensuring the fit, form, and function of your product at a lower cost. Due to this type of technology, investment casting has gone from a very expensive process at the start of its history to a process which helps lower costs and reduces lead times.

Intercast is an industrial casting company dedicated to helping our clients save costs with more efficient and effective supply chain programs. We take pride in our ability to solve problems and make your life easier. Contact us today for a quote, or to let us know how we can help you and your business.