Knowledge Resources

What tolerances and surface finish are achievable in stainless steel investment casting — and how to specify them correctly on an engineering drawing. Covers ISO 8062-3 CT grades CT4–CT7, as-cast Ra values by stainless steel grade, the three sources of dimensional variation, GD&T application to castings, grade-specific dimensional behaviour in SS316L, duplex 2205 and 17-4 PH, and what procurement teams should request from a foundry.

A technical comparison of investment casting (lost wax casting) and sand casting — covering dimensional tolerance, surface finish, casting integrity, pressure testing, material and alloy capability, and total cost of ownership. Includes a material-by-material comparison and a five-filter decision framework for engineers selecting between the two processes.

Duplex stainless steel 2205 investment castings — ASTM A890 Grade 4A — deliver twice the yield strength of SS316L with PREN ≈ 35, making them the specification of choice for oil and gas, marine, chemical processing, and desalination applications where austenitic grades fail in chloride service. Covers cast grade designation, metallurgy, mechanical properties, foundry process controls, mandatory solution annealing, ferrite measurement, design guidelines, and inspection standar

Porosity is the most common defect in copper alloy investment castings — but it is not a single defect. Gas porosity, shrinkage porosity, interdendritic porosity, air entrapment, and oxide-related porosity have different causes, different visual signatures, and require different detection methods. Identifying which type is present is the first step to solving the problem. This guide covers all five types, their causes by copper alloy family, & the inspection methods that dete

Producing thin wall stainless steel investment castings — sections between 1.5mm and 4mm — is a different engineering problem from standard section investment casting. The metal solidifies faster, fill must be complete before the section freezes, and the margin for process variation is narrower in every dimension. This guide covers why thin wall stainless castings are specified, the applications that require them, what makes them technically different to produce.

Aluminium bronze investment casting spans nine ASTM casting grades, from the general-purpose C95400 (AB1) to the marine-standard C95800 (AB2) and the high-performance C95520 specified to AMS 4881 for aerospace landing gear. Grade selection matters. Heat treatment condition matters more. This guide covers all nine grades with US and European standard cross-references, what heat treatment does to aluminium bronze microstructure, and the applications where each grade is the corr

Most high-strength copper alloys sacrifice conductivity for strength. Most high-conductivity copper alloys sacrifice strength for conductivity. Copper Chromium Zirconium — CuCrZr, UNS C18150 — does neither. This guide covers the investment casting of CuCrZr, the applications where its unique combination of 80–85% IACS and 400–500 MPa yield strength makes it the only correct specification, the mandatory heat treatment sequence, and how it compares to the alternatives.

Pahwa MetalTech IS 4595 certified non-sparking tools — QTi® Copper Titanium and BronAL® Aluminium Bronze — are listed on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for direct procurement by government departments, PSUs, defence establishments, and CPSE organisations. Click any “View on GeM ↗” link to go directly to the respective product page on of Non Sparking Tools on GeM portal. For guidance on selecting non-sparking tools, material comparison between QTi and BronAL, and industry-

Investment casting of stainless steel begins with a grade selection decision that most engineers encounter at least once: SS304 or SS316. The difference between them is a single alloying addition. This guide explains what that addition delivers, the ASTM cast designations for both grades, the service conditions where SS304 is the correct and sufficient specification, the conditions where SS316 is mandated, and when to additionally specify the low-carbon L variants

Investment casting — also known as lost wax casting — is the precision metal forming process that produces complex near-net-shape components in a single operation. This guide covers the complete process, all material families across copper, stainless steel, and aluminium, precision capabilities, how investment casting compares to five alternative manufacturing routes, industrial applications across nine sectors, quality standards, and design guidelines for specifying engineer

OFHC and ETP copper are both high-conductivity grades used in investment casting, but their oxygen content makes them suitable for different applications. ETP copper is ideal for standard electrical components, while OFHC copper is essential for hydrogen-rich, high-temperature, and vacuum environments where hydrogen embrittlement and outgassing risks must be avoided. This guide compares properties, casting requirements, and specification standards.

A comprehensive guide to stainless steel investment casting across all five alloy families: austenitic (SS304/316L), duplex (2205/2507), precipitation hardening (17-4 PH), martensitic (SS410/420), and ferritic grades. Covers precision capabilities, heat treatment requirements, ASTM and EN standards, and industrial applications.