Investment casting foundry
Turbo-charge your process.

Produce more parts in less time with the 3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast System – designed to give more control over shell thickness in fewer dips.

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3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast System

Engineered to increase throughput without increasing foundry footprint.

  • Out of all the tasks in precision investment casting, shell build takes up the most time – and the most space. The new 3M Fused Silica Rapid Cast System is an advanced slurry that enables foundries to produce more parts in less time within an existing footprint.

    Comprising 3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast Flour and 3M™ Rapid Cast Accelerator, this new system gives an unprecedented amount of control over shell thickness, with 35-50% fewer dips. Thanks to its unique thixotropic qualities, the new system provides precise flow into tight areas while simultaneously building shell bulk. This eliminates the need for multiple, task-specific slurries that can take up valuable time and space. It also requires fewer liquid level adjustments to achieve consistent shell thickness, freeing up even more time for other operations.

    Due to a dramatic improvement in shell knockout, castings can be de-shelled more quickly and cleanly, increasing output. In addition, better shell knockout can reduce the amount of cleaning required – helping save labor costs and often the need for caustic leaching.


Shell build, streamlined.

Find out where the 3M fused silica rapid cast system can save you time throughout the casting process – so you can send more parts through the shell room, faster.

  • Ceramic Shell Build Case System
    Ceramic Shell Build

    After wax molds are assembled on a sprue or "tree," they are dipped in a ceramic slurry. Then stucco is applied by holding the tree under a shower of ceramic sand or dipping in a fluidized bed. This process is repeated, building up successive layers until the desired shell weight and thickness is achieved.

    The 3M fused silica rapid cast system can cut the number of slurry dips by up to 35–50%!

  • Shell Knockout dried wax to create molds
    Shell Knockout

    The shell is dried, the wax is melted out, and molten metal is poured into the hollow ceramic mold and left to cool. The ceramic shell is then knocked off the tree, exposing the precision-cast metal parts.

    Castings can be knocked out more quickly and cleanly from shells made with the 3M fused silica rapid cast system.

  • High temperature caustic fluid
    Caustic Cleaning or Blasting

    High-temperature caustic fluid or high-pressure water blasting is used to clean off any remaining ceramic material trapped in tight corners of the castings. Better knockout can help reduce caustic or blasting time, and may even reduce the number of parts that require cleaning – along with the associated time, labor and expense.



Featured Product

  • A product image of 3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast System

    3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast System is a slurry system designed to offer foundries a more effective way to build better investment casting shells. The system is comprised of 3M™ Fused Silica Rapid Cast Flour and 3M™ Rapid Cast Accelerator. The system is proven to reduce the number of dips by 35-50%.


Key Resources


Support

Contact us if you need product, technical or application advice or want to collaborate with a 3M Technical Specialist. Call 423-422-6051.

Contact us if you need product, technical or application advice or want to collaborate with a 3M Technical Specialist. Call 423-422-6051.

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