The Design of Testing Methods for Strength of Ceramic Shell Mold in Investment Casting

Abstract

In the different processes of investment casting, the stress states of the ceramic shell mold are different. The widely used bending strength at present is not a reasonable characteristic parameter for the overall measurement of mechanical properties of ceramic shell mold. In this paper, two special kinds of strength testing methods for the key processes of investment casting were designed and conducted. The tested method for burst strength was designed to evaluate the performance of ceramic shell mold in the dewaxing process. The testing method for crush strength was designed and conducted to evaluate the performance of ceramic shell mold in the solidification process of castings. The principles of these testing method were also analyzed based on the special stress state of ceramic shell mold in the corresponding processes. The overall strength performance of two different kinds of ceramic shell molds was evaluated using the designed methods and the experimental results were well differentiated.