Gold jewellery investment casting

Abstract

Investment casting is in all probability the most important production technique for the manufacture of gold jewellery. However, few attempts have been made to investigate systematically the fundamental principles of the process as applied for this purpose, and very few publications describing such researches have appeared. The review by L. B. Hunt of the history of the lost wax casting process in the preceding pages is an appropriate background against which to report briefly on some research results highlighted at the 'Colloquium on Investment Casting of Gold Jewellery Alloys' held recently at Schwabisch Gmund, in the Federal Republic of Germany. This meeting was arranged to mark the end of the first year of a research project on investment casting of gold jewellery alloys, which was commissioned by the International Gold Corporation Limited at the Forschungsinstitut fur Edelmetalle und Metallchemie (F.E.M.). A total of fifteen papers were presented. The research results were introduced by Ch.J. Raub and D. Ott of the F.E.M., and current casting practice was the topic of a number of excellent presentations by speakers from all walks of industry.