1- What Is Vacuum Casting?
Vacuum Casting is also known as Negative Pressure Sealed Casting, Reduced Pressure Casting or V Process Casting. Vacuum negative pressure casting is one type of dry sand casting and requires the use of air extraction equipment to extract the air inside the casting mold, and then use the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the mold to cover the heated plastic film on the patterns and the templates. The casting mold will become strong enough to withstand the molten metal during casting. After obtaining the vacuum casting mold, fill the sand box with dry sand without binder, and then seal the top surface of the sand mold with the plastic film, followed by vacuum to make the sand firm and tight. After that, remove the mold, put the sand cores, close the mold to make everthing ready for pouring. Finally, the casting is obtained after the molten metal is cooled and solidified.
2- What Are the Advantages of Vacuum Casting?
1) The vacuum castings have high dimensional accuracy, clear outline and smooth surface.
2) There are no binders, water and additives in the molding sand, which makes the sand processing simple.
3) It is simple to clean the vacuum castings. Less harmful gases are generated during the casting process.
4) The vacuum castings could be used at a wide range of industries. It can be used for single-piece small batch production as well as mass production, especially large and medium-sized castings and thin-walled castings are more suitable for vacuum casting.
3- What Metals and Alloys Could Be Cast by Vacuum Casting?
• Gray Cast Iron, Ductile Cast Iron
• Carbon Steel: Low carbon, medium carbon and high carbon steel
• Cast Steel Alloys: Low alloy steel, high alloy steel, special alloy steel
• Aluminium and their alloys
• Brass & Copper.
4- What Industries Are The Vacuum Castings Used For?
As mentioned above in the advantages of vacuum casting, the vacuum castings could be used at a wide range of industries. It can be used for single-piece small batch production as well as mass production, especially large and medium-sized castings and thin-walled castings are more suitable for vacuum casting. Therefore, the vacuum castings are mainly used for agricultural machineries, hydraulic systems, rail freight cars, cranes and shipbuilding industries.
5- What Casting Tolerances Could be Reached by Vacuum Casting Process?
During vacuum casting, because the surface of the model is covered with plastic film, there is no need to vibrate or knock when pull the mold. The suction and negative pressure make the molding sand compact, and the hardness of the sand mold is high and uniform. Under the heat of molten metal, the cavity is not easy to deform. Moreover, the existence of negative pressure is conducive to the full filling of molten metal into the model. The surface roughness of V process castings can reach Ra = 25 ~ 2.5μm. The dimensional tolerance level of castings can reach CT5 ~ CT7. The appearance quality of negative pressure castings is good, and the internal quality is reliable.