The advantages and disadvantages of investment casting
• Many Intricateforms with undercuts can be cast.
• A very smoothsurface is obtained with no parting line.
• Dimensionalaccuracy is good.
• Certainunmachinable parts can be cast to preplanned shape.
• It may be usedto replace die-casting where short runs are involved.
Disadvantages of Investment casting
• This processis expensive, is usually limited to small casting, and presents somedifficulties where cores are involved.
• Holes cannotbe smaller than 1/16 in. (1.6mm) and should be no deeper than about 1.5 timesthe diameter.
• Investmentcastings require very long production-cycle times versus other castingprocesses.
• This processis practically infeasible for high-volume manufacturing, due to its high costand long cycle times.
• Many of theadvantages of the investment casting process can be achieved through othercasting techniques if principles of thermal design and control are appliedappropriately to existing processesthat do not involve the shortcomings ofinvestment castings.