Lost-wax casting

Inl y Casting Waxes. The three types of inlay casting waxes, ie, types A, B, and C, are used to produce wax patterns for the lost wax casting process in the production of cast gold inlays, crowns, and bridges. Some inlay wax is also used to produce patterns for acryflc restorations. 

Metal Casting Techniques. Many ancient cast metal objects were made by the cire perdue (lost wax) casting process, which involves pouring molten metal into a one-piece mold and letting it solidify modem fakes are usually cast in two halves that are then joined. A casting fin, or a fine line of filed solder on a cast object, usually reveals that the casting is modem. 

Feinberg, W. (1983), Lost Wax Casting, Interim Technology, London. 

Hunt, L. B. (1980), The long history of lost wax casting, Gold Bull. 13, 63-81. 

We investigated eight Matisse bronze samples that were either small pieces of metal or shavings saved from the drilling of mounting bolts. All sculptures were made using lost wax casting except for The Serf which was sand cast (Table III). 

Metals, usually gold and silver, are often cast to make rings and other small jewelry pieces. In lost wax casting, a wax pattern for a jewelry piece is burned out of a mold. A large variety of waxes, such as beeswax, paraffin, and tallow, can be used. The waxes can release formaldehyde and acrolein. 

The radiographic evidence strongly supports a lost-wax casting procedure and does not indicate a sand piece-mold process as demonstrated by the following observations. The iron armature is not an iron wire, as used in modem processes, but is an irregular band, approximately 12 mm wide and 2 mm thick (Figure 17). Similar armatures and also iron chaplets have been observed in many bronzes manufactured in... 

In lost wax casting, the most widely used precision casting method, a model is made of the desired product. 

FIGURE 12.35 Lost wax casting as it may have been practiced. 

FIGURE 21.2 Glass head of a pharaoh (believed to be Amenophis II) as sphinx, 1400-1390 bce. It was made by lost-wax casting and is -3.2cm high. 

AM is also used to make kernels and molds for sand casting, lost pattern and molds for precision casting, and master models for copying techniques. Tools for lost wax casting and sand casting are not mentioned as well as copying techniques. 

Ramonite. A material developed for investment casting and lost-wax casting, from a mixture of enriched raw materials containing up to 52% alumina. 

For investment (sometimes called lost-wax) casting, the pattern is made from a wax or plastic that has a low melting temperature. Aroimd the pattern a fluid slurry is poured that sets up to form a solid mold or investment plaster of paris is usually used. The mold is then heated, such that the pattern melts and is biumed out, leaving behind a mold cavity having the desired shape. This technique is employed when high dimensional accuracy, reproduction of fine detail, and an excellent finish are required—for example, in jewelry and dental crowns and inlays. Also, blades for gas tinbines and jet engine impellers are investment cast. 

Lost wax casting of karat golds is a complex, near-net shape process consisting of many steps [4,5] ... 

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