Aerospace
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ABI SHOWATECH

Investment Casting
What we do

ABI established an investment casting foundry in 2009 using the Hind Hi-Vac process. In 2011 ABI entered into a technical collaboration with Hitchiner Inc to manufacture turbine wheels.

ABI foundry is equipped with innovative and modern equipment’s to manufacture Investment casting parts. ABI has the capability to cast an exceptionally broad range of alloys in the foundry.

Finishing Process

  • Ni base Superalloys
  • Titanium
  • High Alloy steels
  • Cobalt alloys
  • Aluminium

Investment casting is a process based on Lost wax process – one of the oldest manufacturing processes, dating back thousands of years. Investment casting aids towards production of complex shapes with good dimensional control. It helps towards manufacturing components with high accuracy, repeatability, flexibility and reliability in a variety of metals and high-performance alloys.

Investment casting is the process of casting parts into ceramic shell molds. Ceramic shell molds are made by dipping the wax tree in ceramic slurry to form thick coats around the tree. The resulting mold is cured to achieve the required hardness and processed to produce a rigid shell mold ready for the investment casting process. These molds are then placed in a furnace where the alloys are melted and poured into the molds. After casting the parts are separated from the tree, cleaned and further processed as required.

The cast parts have varying microstructure depending upon the variations in the process and parameters. The different types of microstructure that can be produced from ABI foundry are equiaxed grain, directional grain and single crystal. Out of which production of single crystal cast parts is the most complex.

Countergravity / CLI-C3 Process

The casting process used is a proprietary process called CLI-C3. The process combines counter gravity, low pressure and centrifugal force to enable quick and efficient casting

ABI’s Investment casting process is extremely versatile and is excellent for complex components where customers require thin parts with high dimensional accuracy.

Currently ABI supplies a range of Turbine wheels, with the minimum size of 30mm to a maximum size of 90mm in diameter. The process is capable of manufacturing wheels with a blade thickness as low as 0.35 mm.

In the Investment casting foundry, ABI can produce turbine wheels, waste gate parts and many other precision engineering components.

Process Flow

Process Flow

Modelling and Simulation

Tool Manufacturing

Wax pattern manufacturing

Wax tree assembly

Shell manufacturing & Drying

Casting Counter-gravity/CLI-C3

Pre-heating of shells

Shell washing

Pre-firing shells/ Flashfire

De-waxing of Shells

Knock out

Shot blasting

100% FPI

100% Visual inspection

Packing and Dispatch

Vaccum melting and Pouring

ABI has setup a new dedicated facility to manufacture Vacuum Investment cast parts. The steps involved in the process are similar to regular investment casting process but the melting and pouring of the alloy is in Vacuum environment. All Vacuum castings from super alloys are made from this facility

All special process requirements are fulfilled within the facility

  • Welding
  • Etching
  • HIP
  • Vacuum Heat treatment
  • FPI
  • Radiography

Process Flow

Modelling and Simulation

Tool Manufacturing

Wax pattern and manufacturing

Wax tree assembly

Shell manufacturing

Pre heating of shells

Wool wraping

Shell washing and Dye inspection

Pre-firing shells/ Flashfire

De-waxing of Shells

Casting – Melting

Knockout

Casting

HIP -Based on requirement 

Fettling/ Deburring

Packing & Dispatch

FPI & X-ray

Macro Etch & Heat treatment

Visual expection

Grit blasting

Process flow