Silica Sol Casting Parts
China Silica Sol Casting Parts Manufacturers Factory Suppliers
We specialize in producing all kinds of Silica Sol Casting Parts products, mainly High Alloy Steel Castings, Acid-proof Steel Castings, Mechanical Structural Castings, AISI 420 Stainless Steel Castings, AISI 316 Stainless Steel Castings, AISI 304 Stainless Steel Castings, Low Alloy Steel Castings, etc.
HANRUI STEEL CUSTOMIZATION was established in 2009, boasting over 10 years of manufacturing experience, can provide customers with perfect solutions.
Our market is mainly concentrated in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Finland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, etc. We have established long-term cooperative relationships with customers around the world.
Company Advantages
Well-Experienced
HANRUI STEEL CUSTOMIZATION was established in 2009, boasting over 10 years of manufacturing experience. With a dedicated team casting engineers, and mechanical designers, we are committed to offering solutions to the steel accessory challenges faced across various industries.
Large Scale
With shares in two investment casting bases, one sand casting base, and two forging bases, we offer comprehensive one-stop services to our customers. From initial design and development to the delivery of flawless steel parts, we ensure a seamless and efficient process.
Advanced Production Equipment
We are a full-service company providing complete design, R&D, production and sales services. Our production workshop is equipped with the most advanced equipment. Innovation, powerful technology, and expertise make our equipment highly automated with various parameters that can be adjusted to meet the needs of most applications in the industry.
24-hour Online Customer Service
We have an experienced and professional customer support team to provide flexible service to customers around the world. Our customer service is available online 24 hours a day. After receiving the service information or feedback from the customer, we will reply and address the feedback in the shortest time.
Global Sales Network
Our market is mainly concentrated in countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, Finland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Sweden, etc. We have established long-term cooperative relationships with customers around the world. In addition, we also provide OEM/ODM manufacturing services to many customers.
Customized Services
We welcome product customization, and our team is capable of developing new products or providing technical solutions tailored to customer requirements. lf you have any special request, pls send us the details.
Introduction to Silica Sol Casting
Silica sol casting is a form of investment casting. The process is very similar except that the investment mould is made from silica sol zircon sand mixed with refractory powder. Silica sol zircon sand is exceptionally fine-grained (10-20 Microns) and can be mixed to a slurry with very low viscosity when creating the mould. The result is a casting method that delivers dimensionally accurate castings with excellent as-cast surface finishes. Crucially, the silica sol zircon moulds can withstand temperatures up to 2000°C, making them very useful when casting high temperature alloy steels and stainless steels.
The silica sol is usually used for shell-building during the lost wax casting process due to its high accuracy and precision. Together with the water glass casting process, silica sol plays an important role in precision investment casting foundry.
Advantages of Silica Sol Casting
Silica sol casting has many advantages, including:
Accuracy
Silica sol casting produces a high level of detail and surface quality. This makes it ideal for manufacturing components with precise geometries and tight tolerances.
Surface quality
Silica sol castings have a very good surface quality, are very smooth, and have very few surface defects.
Versatility
Silica sol investment casting is suitable for casting most metals.
Thin walls
Silica sol casting allows very intricate castings to be produced with thin walls.
Smooth surface finishes
Silica sol casting produces smooth surface finishes with no parting line so machining and finishing are reduced or eliminated.
Complex shapes
Silica sol casting can achieve complex shapes without draft angles.
Small marks
Silica sol casting can cast very clearly small marks, such as letters or company logos.
High corrosion resistance
Silica sol castings are mainly used for products with high corrosion resistance.
No secondary machining
Silica sol castings eliminate the need for secondary machining after casting.
Types of Silica Sol Casting
High Alloy Steel Castings
High alloy steel casting is a steel casting process that involves alloying steel with various elements. The alloying elements make up more than 8% of the steel's composition, excluding carbon and iron. The alloying elements are added to improve the steel's mechanical properties. The most important alloy elements among others are manganese, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, vanadium, titan, cobalt and lead.
Parts made of high-alloy steel castings are used when special characteristics as wear, acid, scaling or corrosion resistance are required, Accordingly castings from high alloy steel castingss are used in rail, automotive and engine construction, at the production of tools, rollers and die iron.
Alloy steels are broken down into two groups: low-alloy steels and high-alloy steels. Low-alloy steels have up to 8% alloying elements, while high alloy steel castings have more than 8%.
Acid-proof Steel Castings
Acid-proof Steel Casting is a type of steel that is more resistant to corrosion than regular stainless steel. It's made from alloys that include chrome, nickel, manganese, titanium, niobium, and molybdenum.
Acid-proof Steel Casting is used in environments with more challenging chemical exposures, such as a maritime environment and when items come in contact with acids. It's often used in luminaires for external environments, such as industrial activities that handle acids, salts, and other corrosive substances.
Usually, acid-proof steel casting is combined with other equally hardy materials such as glass rather than plastic so as to ensure the best possible encapsulation.
Stainless Steel Castings
Stainless Steel Castings is a manufacturing process used to create complex metal parts in a wide range of shapes and sizes. It involves pouring molten stainless steel casting into a ceramic shell or mold, which is created by coating a wax pattern with a ceramic material.
Once the ceramic material has solidified around the wax pattern, the wax is melted away, leaving a cavity in the ceramic shell. The molten stainless steel casting is then poured into this cavity, filling the mold and taking on the shape of the wax pattern. After the metal has cooled and solidified, the ceramic shell is removed, and the finished stainless steel casting part is cleaned, polished, and inspected for quality.
Investment casting is known for producing high-precision parts with excellent surface finish, making it a popular choice for applications where precision and aesthetics are important, such as in the medical, aerospace, and automotive industries.
Low Alloy Steel Castings
Low Alloy Steel Casting is a steel casting process that uses an alloy content of up to 8%. It behaves similarly to normal carbon steel, but has higher hardenability.
Low Alloy Steel Casting is made up of plain carbon steels and steels with an alloying content of up to 12%. It contains specified amounts of chromium, nickel, or molybdenum to the carbon to improve hardenability and toughness.
Low-alloy steel has several advantages over stainless steel, including:
Low cost: Low Alloy Steel Casting has fewer alloying elements, which makes it cheaper than stainless steel.
High strength: Low Alloy Steel Casting can be stronger than high-strength martensitic stainless steel.
Less resistant to heat, wear, and corrosion: Low alloy steel has low percentages of alloying elements like chromium and nickel.
Mainly the silica sol casting is applying to the precision casting, because of its relatively high production cost but gives out a very fine accurate dimension, nice surface finish, and very good quality result overall. One of the other advantages for silica sol casting is that the internal defects such as porosity, holes, shrinkage are better controlled compared to another way of casting. So when you looking for a method to produce a small part but with high accuracy, surface demand, high corrosion resistance and you don’t want to waste time waiting for the casting quality in slow improved gradually, silica sol casting is surely on your options list.
Production method of Silica Sol Casting
We can produce top-level silica sol castings in a variety of dimensions and shapes. Silica Sol Casting process includes the following:
It is the first step for the metal silica sol casting process, the basis to achieve precision products, and also the basic step to make wax patterns.
Make a wax injection die: The wax pattern is obtained by injecting wax into the pattern. We will get a model with the same dimensions as desired products. Then, we will repeat the injection job for more wax patterns
After wax patterns are finished, they will be assembled into runners, then into a finished tree which is ready to be dipped.
After the slurry coating is done, sand particles are dropped onto the surface of the wet tree assembly, which helps to thicken and strengthen the layer of coating on the wax assembly surface.
The wax inside the newly built shell is now removed by putting the shell in a steam-dewaxing autoclave or flash fire furnace. The wax will be melt and run out through the gate and pouring up under high temperature.The ceramic shell molds must be fired to burn out the last traces of pattern material and then preheat the mold in preparation for casting. Usually in the range of 1600-2000 degrees Fahrenheit, that is why silica sol casting also called “lost wax casting”.
The molten metal is poured into the preheated mold cavities. Casting or pouring is the key step in the whole silica sol casting process.
The mold then sits to allow the molten metal to cool and solidify at room temperature, which then becomes the final castings.
The shell material is then removed through processes like hammer knockout, vibration, or steel grit blasting.
The finished casting parts are then cut free from the sprue and runner system, and then remove the excess metal from the casting body by grinding.
Various finishing techniques are then employed including heat treatment, grinding, polishing, shot blasting/sandblasting, and coating to achieve the final requested surface.
Heat Treatment: The Heat Treatment process can improve the mechanical properties of casting blanks. The main heat treatment processes are Normalizing, tempering, annealing, hardening, and tempering, carburizing.
Shot Blasting/Sandblasting: To remove scales and achieve a better surface finish, silica sol castings will be shot blasted or sandblasted by small steel balls.
Anti-rust Oil Painting & Surface Treatments: In order to avoid rusting, castings will be dipped into anti-rust water or oil. The other surface treatments can also be performed in this step like paint spraying, galvanizing.
Inspection is also one of the most important steps for silica sol casting parts quality control. Once the finishing operations are done, the parts are inspected according to technical drawings and requirements. Visual and fluorescent penetrant inspection is done for surfaces and X-ray is applied for sub-surface defect identification.
Precautions of Silica Sol Casting
Processing cost
For low volume requirements, silica sol casting might be more expensive than other manufacturing process if tooling is pursued. In that condition, SLA or 3D-printed may be a cost-effective alternative (even for a quantity of one).
Initial moulding cost is also a key factor when it comes to whether silica sol casting brings the greatest value. The silica sol casting mould usually consists of multiple parts fitted together to make the complex-shaped parts.
This early moulding cost is not insignificant but it can be offset by the lack of subsequent machining and/or fabrication.
Size Restrictions
Silica Sol Casting is able to create the various parts with a large range of sizes and have less limitation comparing to other casting process, like sand casting.
Time
Compared with other processes, although the silica sol casting process takes more time, it requires fewer subsequent CNC machining operations than other processes.
Our Factory
We have a fully automatic CNC production line, and are committed to providing customers with the best products and services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is sand casting, water glass casting, silica sol casting?
The water glass investment casting process uses water glass quartz sand as the molding material, which can stand temperature up to 1800 degrees, but it is more expensive than wet clay sand.
The silica sol investment casting process uses silica sol zircon sand as the molding material, which can stand temperatures up to 2000 degrees. This molding material is very expensive.
Q: Why use Silica Sol Casting?
Versatility: Suitable for casting a wide range of metals, enhancing its applicability across various industries.
Intricate Designs: Capable of producing intricate castings with thin walls, ideal for applications requiring complex geometries.
Smooth Surface Finishes: Provides smooth surface finishes with no parting line, reducing or eliminating the need for extensive machining and finishing.
Precision in Un-Machinable Parts: Accurately casts complex and un-machinable parts that may be challenging with traditional methods.
Dimensional Accuracy: Ensures excellent dimensional accuracy, meeting tight tolerances and specifications.
Cost-Effective: Reduces post-casting machining and finishing requirements, resulting in cost-effective solutions.
Q: What are the similarities between Silica sol casting and water glass casting?
Silica sol casting and water glass casting are both without parting line, can manufacture complex shape part which sand casting process is not suitable for, such as impeller, etc.
The wall thickness can meet as lower as 1.5 millimeter, Hole diameter can meet as smaller as 5 millimeter. Range of each part weight is from 2 gram to 70 kilogram.
Q: Why Silica Sol for Investment Casting?
Silica sol castings are mainly used for products with high corrosion resistance and precision dimensions, since silica sol steel casting can have much better surface quality and less geometrical deviation of dimensions. The main silica sol steel castings we ever made include meat grinder parts, valve castings, pump castings, marine hardware, and furniture decoration etc.
Q: What are the performance characteristics of Silica Sol Casting Parts?
Liner tolerance of silica sol castings can be controlled with ±0.1mm, and the surface finish is Ra6.3.
Min. weight 0.01kg, Max. weight 50kg.
Cast min. hole: Φ2mm
Cast min. round corner: R0.1mm
Cast min thickness: 0.7mm
Q: How long is the Silica Sol Casting cycle?
Q: What is the process flow of Silica Sol Casting Parts?
Molten wax is injected into the metal die to create a pattern, allowed to solidify and then removed. Some complex wax patterns are fabricated by joining several separate patterns together using an adhesive.
The waxes are then assembled on a wax tree, many parts can be put on the tree depending on size, it is common for components to be in the weight range 0.1kg up to 50kg.
The tree is then immersed in silica sol zircon slurry to coat the wax, the slurry is exceptionally fine with low viscosity resulting in an excellent as-cast surface finish. The slurry is coated with a refractory material and the process is repeated several times until a shell is created around the wax pattern.
The drying process is critical. The shells must be allowed to dry naturally in a constant temperature to allow the silica sol gels and refractory particles to bond, the result is a strong, high quality shell mould. The trees of wax are put into ovens of about 200 degrees to melt out the wax.
When all wax is removed the trees are heated up to over 1000 degrees to complete preparation for casting.
The metal is then poured into the hot mould
Q: What are the disadvantages of Silica Sol Casting?
Preparation: Preparation of wax patterns and shell molds can be time-consuming and expensive. This is because the molds need to dry naturally in temperature-controlled conditions.
Cost: Lost wax silica sol castings made with silica sol are expensive because of the higher material costs and longer production lead time.
Quality: It's not suitable to control the quality of silica sol casting.
Complexity: The silica sol process is more complex and requires more preparation than sand casting.
Q: What are the options for silica sol?
Q: What is the MOQ of HR silicon sol castings?
Q: What is the accuracy of silicon sol casting sizes?
Q: What is the surface roughness of HR silicon-sol casting?
Q: What is the production capacity of HR silicon-sol casting?