<p>It depends: What is your mold material ? I expect any type of glass  would fuse to any ceramic mold materials I am familiar with ( mostly alumina). And many glasses get soft and bendable at 1500 F , but that is nowhere  near liquid which will be 2200+ F.  How hot can you get your melting furnace? High alloy stainless ( 310 = 25 Cr : 20 Ni) melts "low" and has excellent fluidity. Vitalium is relatively unusual but common ( cobalt # 21 , Co + Cr) ; is used for silver colored dental applications and jet engine compressor blades. Maybe start with tin ( AKA pewter) very low melting ( roughly 600 F), good corrosion resistance.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T02:36:14.747Z
Your jet engine example is a bit off. Nobody makes *compressor* blades by lost wax casting (and most of them are aluminum or titanium). The nickel based superalloys used for *turbine* blades (typically >60% Ni) are used in lost wax casting and have typical melting points around 1100C to 1200C  (2000F - 2150F). But that sort of lost wax casing is not a "do this at home" process.
alephzero
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T02:45:39.020Z
… Stellite (aka Vitalium) was used for cast turbine blades back in the 1950s, but its temperature capability (800C, 1450F) is much to low for modern jet engines.
alephzero
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T12:01:28.167Z
i am afraid I dont know the specifics other than I can cast silver (so trmp>1750) and the investment compound is similar to plaster and needs to be put in a vacuum chamber prior to curing in a kiln, but mostly shatters off when thrown in water after casting
Jesse McDonald
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T12:04:00.357Z
what about aluminum? any potential there?
Jesse McDonald
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T14:48:22.883Z
@alephzero I don't know about jet engine parts in particular, but many aluminum machine parts are made by lost foam casting. Anything that won't bind to the mold material should be fine, though. (And tin and pewter aren't the same thing; pewter is an alloy of tin.)
Allison C
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T15:40:22.713Z
Vitallium goes back before 1940 to the first gas turbines. The gas cools as it goes through the turbine stages so Vitalium may still be used in the last stages . Or the hottest compressor stage. Some of the high allos can only be made by casting . Also orientated grain and single grain technologies can only be done by casting..
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T15:53:14.233Z
A little alloy ( eg. 5 Sb , 3 Cu ) is added to tin to make it a little harder. Much like Sterling silver has 7 % Cu added to make it harder. I still think of them as tin and silver.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-01-07T02:03:56.243Z
2020-01-07T02:03:56.243Z
blacksmith37
<p>I am looking to cast a ring using lost wax casting. I know that with my current setup I can cast pure silver, but I got to thinking: why silver?  Why not, say, glass? So I am wondering what unusual materials I can cast a ring of, with about as much ease as silver?</p>

<casting><wax>
What materials can be lost wax cast easily?
Jesse McDonald
# What materials can be lost wax cast easily?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-01-06)

I am looking to cast a ring using lost wax casting. I know that with my current setup I can cast pure silver, but I got to thinking: why silver? Why not, say, glass? So I am wondering what unusual materials I can cast a ring of, with about as much ease as silver?

**Tags:** casting, wax


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-01-07. Score: 2

It depends: What is your mold material ? I expect any type of glass would fuse to any ceramic mold materials I am familiar with ( mostly alumina). And many glasses get soft and bendable at 1500 F , but that is nowhere near liquid which will be 2200+ F. How hot can you get your melting furnace? High alloy stainless ( 310 = 25 Cr : 20 Ni) melts "low" and has excellent fluidity. Vitalium is relatively unusual but common ( cobalt # 21 , Co + Cr) ; is used for silver colored dental applications and jet engine compressor blades. Maybe start with tin ( AKA pewter) very low melting ( roughly 600 F), good corrosion resistance.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Your jet engine example is a bit off. Nobody makes *compressor* blades by lost wax casting (and most of them are aluminum or titanium). The nickel based superalloys used for *turbine* blades (typically >60% Ni) are used in lost wax casting and have typical melting points around 1100C to 1200C  (2000F - 2150F). But that sort of lost wax casing is not a "do this at home" process.  
> **username_2**: … Stellite (aka Vitalium) was used for cast turbine blades back in the 1950s, but its temperature capability (800C, 1450F) is much to low for modern jet engines.  
> **username_0**: i am afraid I dont know the specifics other than I can cast silver (so trmp>1750) and the investment compound is similar to plaster and needs to be put in a vacuum chamber prior to curing in a kiln, but mostly shatters off when thrown in water after casting  
> **username_0**: what about aluminum? any potential there?  
> **username_3**: @username_2 I don't know about jet engine parts in particular, but many aluminum machine parts are made by lost foam casting. Anything that won't bind to the mold material should be fine, though. (And tin and pewter aren't the same thing; pewter is an alloy of tin.)  
> **username_1**: Vitallium goes back before 1940 to the first gas turbines. The gas cools as it goes through the turbine stages so Vitalium may still be used in the last stages . Or the hottest compressor stage. Some of the high allos can only be made by casting . Also orientated grain and single grain technologies can only be done by casting..  
> **username_1**: A little alloy ( eg. 5 Sb , 3 Cu ) is added to tin to make it a little harder. Much like Sterling silver has 7 % Cu added to make it harder. I still think of them as tin and silver.  

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