Everything You Need To Know To Find The Best Stainless Steel Casting

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What is Cast Stainless Steel?

Cast stainless steel is something you may heard even if you are not familar with it. You may do not really know what this type of metal alloy is produced from, and even do not understand the term 'cast'. As a professional cast stainless steel manufacturer and supplier, we will explain everything about cast stainless steel.

Cast stainless steel is a specific alloy that has gone through one of the primary metal forming processes known as casting.

When it comes to corrosion resistance, cast stainless steel is the right way to go. The bright apperance, good corrosion resistance, and high strength all makes cast stainless steel popular in several applications like marine, food machinery, building fittings, medical, etc.

Cast Stainless Steel ' Manufacturing Process

Investment casting is the proper manufacturing process to creat cast stainless steel components in intricate shapes. Here is a breakdown of the stainless steel investment casting process:

• A design engine first makes a wax pattern using a metal injection die. The pattern will have all the details for a section or portion of the finished component but with slightly larger dimensions to account for thermal contraction.
• Next, the engineer creates the runner and gating system by connecting multiple patterns to form the final component. Molten metal will flow through the runner system as it fills cavities in the mold, creating a well-balanced casting. Gates are the openings between the runner and the cavity that feeds molten metal into the space.
• Once the entire pattern is complete, it is dipped into a ceramic slurry and covered with sand stucco. The design engineer repeats the dipping process until the shell achieves the appropriate thickness. At this point, the dried shell's durability is strong enough to withstand the heat from the molten metal. Also, it will retain its shape during the last step.
• The wax melts away under high temperatures, and trace amounts soak into the plaster or ceramic mold. The void left by the melted wax pattern will be filled with an alloy to create a precise cast stainless steel part.

Why Cast Stainless Steel?

Cast stainless steel is usually chosen because it is resistant against corrosion'but it is also chosen because it is steel. Besides corrosion resistance, cast stainless steel also has some other advantages as below:

High Accuracy
Cast stainless steel parts created by investment casting process are extremely accurate and near net shape. Since cast stainless steel components are created by using the same wax patterns, this accuracy can be maintained from part to part.

Custom Design
Cast stainless steel can be used to make any shape you like. It is also a designer's dream. Logos, product ID's or numbers, and letters can easily be added to the inside and/or outside of components. Lots of complicated stainless steel parts unavailable from forging or machining could be produced by casting process.

Good Hardness
Compared to other cast alloys, cast stainless steel exhibits superior hardness. Hardness is the ability of cast stainless steel to resist indentation and abrasion. Due to its good hardness, parts made from cast stainless steel can work longer than expected.

Common Products Created With Cast Stainless Steel

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You may be surprised to find out that many of the commercial products you come in contact may be using cast stainless steel parts and components or even be made entirely from cast aluminum.

Automotive Parts
Due to the amazing strength and corrosion resistance, it is very popular in the production of automotive parts. For example, exhaust pipe is made with investment cast stainless steel. In addition, other automotive parts such as transmission components, vehicle interior components, are also made from cast stainless steel.

Medical Components
Many medical components are also made from cast stainless steel, not only due to the strength but also due to its easy clean. Some of the more common medical components you may see made from this cast stainless steel is parts for various pumps, surgical tools, components for monitors, and even gearboxes for hospital beds.

Marine Hardwares
Another popular application for cast stainless steel is the production of marine boat hardwares. While many popular firearms may have aluminum components, there are still a number of parts that are created from cast stainless steel. Some of these cast stainless steel marine parts may include boat deck drain, marine boat anchors, hand rail end fitting and much more.

Kitchen hardware
For decades, cast stainless steel has been a vital material in a well-stocked home kitchen. It is dishwasher safe, making for a quick and easy clean up. Typical kitchen hardwares made from cast stainless steel are: cookware handles, meat grinder parts, etc.

Start A Cast Stainless Steel Project With CFS Foundry

Stainless steel casting may have roots dating back 5,000 years, but it still has beneficial applications in modern society. Throughout the world, industries rely on cast stainless steel to produce intricate stainless steel components with smooth finishing, unique geometric shapes, and tight tolerances, including marine, automotive, food processing equipment, and automotive manufacturing industries.

CFS Foundry offers superb stainless steel investment casting and machining services. We use specialized lost wax investment casting process to customize quality cast stainless steel parts quickly. If you would like to learn more about our casting services and receive a free quote on your upcoming project, contact our stainless steel foundry today.

Case Study:

Stainless steel has the advantages of high corrosion resistance, hygiene, and strength, it is a commonly used material in investment casting or lost wax casting process to creat precise stainless steel components for various applications, such as food machinery, marine hardwares, architectural hardwares, medical components, etc.

While there are many options of stainless steel casting grades, how can you ensure you are selecting the appropriate cast stainless steel grade for your specific needs?

Are you interested in learning more about Aluminum Casting? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Factor 1 ' Casting Process

Since we are talking about how to select a suitable stainless steel grade for casting, there is no doubt that the stainless steel grade selected is castable (refer to the castability of stainless steel). Although there are hundreds of stainless steel grades found, not all of them could be cast. The fluidity of molten steel is very critical, while some stainless steel grades have poor fluidity, but good machinability. Commonly used cast stainless steel grades are: 201, 303, 304, 309, 316, 410, 17-4 ph, , , etc.

In China even in the world, most stainless steel foundries could only cast stainless steel grades like 304 and 316 stainless steels. For precipitation-hardening stainless steel and duplex stainless steel, few stainless steel foundry could investment cast them. CFS Foundry has over 30 years' experience in the field of stainless steel investment casting, we can cast all the stainless steel grades mentioned above including 17-4 ph and duplex stainless steels.

Factor 2 ' Corrosion Resistance

Corrosion resistance is the main reason for choosing a stainless steel casting grade. It is necessary to understand the amount of corrosion resistance in some stainless steels. Different grades come with different amounts of corrosion resistance.

For example, austenitic stainless steels can give you the most corrosion resistance since high amounts of chromium are present. Thus, investment casting of 304 stainless steel is usually done in our stainless steel foundry when corrosion resistance is vital. 316 stainless steel, with its added molybdenum content, has better corrosion resistance than 304 stainless steel, is preferred to cast stainless steel components for marine and chemical applications.

Factor 3 ' Quality (strength, ductility, and toughness, etc)

Casting quality is one of the most important factos to consider a stainless steel casting grade. The casting quality mainly lies in the strength, ductility, and toughness of stainless steel.

When it comes to austenitic stainless steel, for the presence of nickel element, it provides the highest toughness and ductility among all types of stainless steel casting grades. For cast stainless steel grades with higher chromium, molybdenum, and nickel, the corrosion resistance are always the better.

Moreover, make sure that you should not be focusing solely on the alloy content when choosing a grade of stainless steel. When there is a high requirement on the strength, precipitation-hardening stainless steel or duplex stainless steel casting is suggested. CFS Foundry ever developped a safety stirrup design for our customer in Europe, high strength is required, so we made cast stainless steel samples with several grades for their selection, after testing, they prove that duplex stainless steel shows the best strength, eventually, we moved on mass production with the ideal strength.

Note that when post machining is operated after stainless steel casting, heat treatment is better to be operated, because, it can remove the inner stress and decrease the strength slightly, which can benefit further machining operation.

Factor 4 ' Magnetic Properties

Magnetic properties should also be considered when choosing a reliable stainless steel casting grade for your part.

Basic stainless steel displays a 'ferritic' structure and is magnetic as a result of the addition of chromium. You can harden it by adding carbon, thus making it 'martensitic.'

On the other hand, the most common stainless steels are austenitic as they come with higher chromium content. You will also find nickel, which modifies the physical structure of the steel, making it non-magnetic.

Austenitic grades have a low magnetic reaction or 'relative magnetic permeability.' The stainless steel grades rich in nickel content like the 316 or 310 grades are non-magnetic in any situation.

Thus, you can use them in applications where you require a non-magnetic metal. If you are looking for stainless steel grades with high magnetic response, opt for the ferritic and martensitic stainless steel grades (400 series). They come with high permeabilities and are classified as 'ferromagnetic.' Also, consider the Duplex grades like while looking for ferromagnetic stainless steel grades.

CFS Foundry can also provide demagnetization process by adding nickel if the casting grade is magnetic, while you want to have a non-magnetic status.

Selecting a Stainless Steel Casting Supplier