Top 10 Stainless Steel Casting Manufacturers
Aero Metals, American Casting Company, AMT, Barron Industries, Eagle Alloy, Fisher Cast Steel, MetalTek International, Milwaukee Precision Casting, Northern Stainless
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Draft Angles in Sand Casting
Draft angle in sand casting is the taper given to every pattern wall that runs perpendicular to the parting line,
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Materials for Sand Casting Patterns
Sand casting patterns are made from wood, plastic (polyurethane board or castable epoxy and urethane), metal (aluminum or cast iron),
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How to Prevent Subsurface Pinholes in Ductile Iron Castings
Subsurface pinholes in ductile iron castings are prevented by limiting the hydrogen and nitrogen that reach the metal at the
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Gating System in Sand Casting
The gating system in sand casting is the set of channels molded into the sand that carries molten metal from
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How to Choose the Right Chemical Binders for Sand Casting
Choose a chemical binder by the casting first (the metal you pour, the size of the part, and whether the
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What to Look For in a Ductile Iron Foundry
Look for a foundry that pours ductile iron as its main metal, controls magnesium treatment and inoculation on every ladle,
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How to Choose the Suitable Casting Process for Cast Iron
Most cast iron parts belong in a sand mold: green sand for long runs of parts under a few hundred
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How to Recycle Casting Sand
Casting sand is recycled inside the foundry: the same sand is cleaned, cooled, topped up with new sand and binder
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Difference Between Green Sand and Dry Sand
The difference is water: a green sand mold is poured moist, and a dry sand mold is the same clay-bonded
Casting Basics
What Is Expendable Mold Casting
Expendable mold casting is any casting process in which the mold is destroyed to get the casting out, so a
Sourcing & Cost
Green Sand Casting Cost
At 2025 scrap prices the charge metal in a gray iron green sand casting works out to about $0.49 per
Molding Sand & Binders
What Is Moulding Sand
Moulding sand is the refractory granular material a foundry packs around a pattern to form a mould cavity: silica grains
Inspection & Quality
How to Test Iron Castings for Quality
An iron casting is proved on five things: chemical composition, mechanical properties from a test bar, microstructure, internal and surface
Molding Sand & Binders
What Is the Composition of Green Sand
Green sand is silica sand bonded with bentonite clay, activated by water, with a carbonaceous additive such as sea coal
Metals & Grades
Types of Cast Iron
Cast iron comes in five types — gray, ductile, compacted graphite, white and malleable — and what separates them is
Metals & Grades
How to Tell If It’s Cast Iron or Cast Steel?
A spark test, a chisel cut or a fresh fracture places an unmarked part on one side or the other,
Metals & Grades
What Is the ASTM Standard for Cast Iron
There is no single ASTM standard for cast iron. ASTM publishes a family of separate iron-casting specifications under Committee A04,
Casting Basics
Cope and Drag
The cope is the upper section of a sand mold and the drag is the lower one — the two
Design & Patterns
What Is Match Plate Pattern
A match plate pattern is a split pattern whose cope and drag halves are mounted back to back on one
Defects & Troubleshooting
How to Repair Casting Defects
A casting defect is repaired by locating it with an NDT method that can actually see it, excavating all of
Casting Basics
How to Make Molds for Metal Casting
Making a mold for metal casting means packing bonded sand around a pattern in two flask halves, cutting the passages
Design & Patterns
Metal Casting Shrinkage
Metal casting shrinkage is the volume a casting loses on its way from the ladle to room temperature, and it
Defects & Troubleshooting
Types of Casting Defects
Casting defects sort into a small number of families, and the family tells you what physically went wrong: gas the
Process Selection
Investment Casting vs Forging: What’s the Difference?
Investment casting fills a shape with liquid metal; forging squeezes solid metal into a shape. Every other difference between the
Sourcing & Cost
Top 10 Investment Casting Manufacturers in 2026
The ten investment casting manufacturers below — Precision Castparts, Howmet Aerospace, CPP, Impro, Doncasters, Hitchiner, Signicast, ZOLLERN, MetalTek and RLM
Process Selection
Investment Casting vs. Die Casting
Alloy settles this comparison before anything else does. Die casting is commercially a non-ferrous process, so a carbon steel, stainless
Casting Basics
Types of Investment Casting Materials
Investment casting works with almost any alloy that can be melted and poured, and in industrial practice the choice narrows
Casting Basics
Type of Wax Using for Investment Casting
An investment casting shop runs several waxes side by side — pattern, runner, soluble, sticky, repair and dipping — and
Process Selection
Permanent Mold Casting vs. Sand Casting
Alloy and annual volume decide this, and for a ferrous part they decide it immediately: permanent mold casting is in
Casting Basics
How to Cast Metal: A Beginner’s Guide
Casting metal means melting an alloy, pouring it into a cavity shaped like the part, and letting it freeze —
Sourcing & Cost
Top 10 Sand Casting Companies
Tupy, Waupaca Foundry, MAT Foundry Group, Grede, Impro Precision, MetalTek, Grainger & Worrall, Harrison Castings, Badger Alloys and Benton Foundry
Design & Patterns
How to Calculate Draft Angle
Draft Angle Calculator inmm Offset from angleAngle from offsetDie casting (NADCA) Wall height from parting line, L (in.) Draft angle,
Casting Basics
Types of Casting Process
Casting processes divide by the mold and by what drives the metal into it. The mold is either expendable —
Process Selection
Lost Foam Vs Green Sand Casting
Lost foam casting gives you internal passages without cores and a casting without a parting line; green sand gives you
Do Investment Castings Still Need Machining?
A ferrous investment casting still needs machining, but only on the minority of features whose print callouts exceed what any
Casting Basics
What Is Investment Casting
Investment casting is a process in which a ceramic shell is built up in layers around a disposable wax pattern,
Defects & Troubleshooting
Sand Inclusions in Castings
Sand inclusions are fragments of mold or core sand trapped in the casting, nearly always at or just under the
Defects & Troubleshooting
Common Sand Casting Defects
Nearly every defect on a ferrous sand casting traces to one of five causes: gas the mold could not vent,
Design & Patterns
What Is Machining Allowance in Casting
Machining allowance is the extra metal left on a casting’s to-be-machined surfaces so the finishing cut can take off the
Metals & Grades
What Are the Different Grades of Ductile Iron?
Ductile iron grades are sets of minimum mechanical properties defined by two standards: ASTM A536 in North America, with five
Metals & Grades
Ductile Iron Heat Treatment
Heat treatment changes the matrix of a ductile iron casting — to ferrite, pearlite, tempered martensite or ausferrite — and
Metals & Grades
Cast Steel vs Cast Iron
Choose cast steel when the part must take impact, bending or internal pressure and yield before it breaks; choose cast
Metals & Grades
Ductile Iron vs. Gray Iron: What’s the Difference
The difference between ductile iron and gray iron is the shape of the graphite: ductile iron carries it as spheroids,
Inspection & Quality
NDT Methods for Sand Castings
Sand castings are inspected with six NDT methods, and the one to call out depends on where the defect you
Process Selection
Sand Casting vs Forging: What’s the Difference
Sand casting shapes metal as a liquid, poured into a sand mold and solidified in place; forging shapes it as
Process Selection
Sand Casting vs. Centrifugal Casting
Choose sand casting for any part that is not a plain body of revolution, and centrifugal casting for tubes, sleeves,
Sourcing & Cost
Top 10 Sand Casting Factories in China
The ten sand casting factories below — Dawang Metals, Dandong Foundry, Shandong Useen, Ninghai Jinma, Taiyuan SIMIS, Haian Aoyu, Cangzhou
Process Selection
Shell Mold Casting vs. Green Sand Casting
Shell mold casting holds tighter tolerances, a smoother as-cast surface and thinner walls than green sand; green sand costs less
Process Selection
Coated Sand vs Resin Sand Casting: What’s the Difference
Coated sand casting and resin sand casting differ in when the resin meets the sand and how it cures. Coated
Casting Basics
What Is Resin Sand Casting
Resin sand casting is sand casting in a mold bonded by a synthetic resin that hardens through a chemical reaction,
Design & Patterns
Types of Patterns in Casting
Casting patterns fall into eleven recognized types, and what separates them is not the shape of the part but how
Process Selection
Investment Casting vs Sand Casting
Investment casting holds tighter tolerances; sand casting tools cheaper and goes heavier. Five numbers from your own print decide which route fits a specific ferrous part.
Process Selection
Die Casting vs Sand Casting: Which Casting Process Is Better
Die casting is the better process for aluminum, zinc, and magnesium parts made in quantities that pay for a tool-steel
Design & Patterns
How Foundries Actually Use 3D Printing for Casting
The first 3D printed sand mold I unpacked looked wrong. The layer lines were visible, the surface felt rougher than
Process Selection
No-Bake vs. Green Sand Casting
Green sand is the cheaper mold for small and medium ferrous castings made in volume; no-bake is the better process
What is Green Sand Casting
Green sand casting is sand casting in a mold bonded with clay and water instead of a chemical resin. The
Types of Sand for Sand Casting
Four base sands and three binder families are two separate specification decisions. The sintering, expansion and acid demand numbers that separate them for ferrous casting.
What Is Sand Casting
Sand casting is the process of forming a cavity in bonded sand around a pattern, pouring molten metal into that