Identification of Critical Key Parameters and their Impact to Zero-defect Manufacturing in the Investment Casting Process

The investment casting process and its key parameters are described in order to give a quite detailed knowledge of the main indicators of this production method, for its nature prone to have high costs of rework or scrap. Initially, a schematic flow of the main processes is provided; afterwards the main processes are discussed in more detailed manner with their manufacturing methods and product specifications. These concepts are indispensable to introduce the discussion on the critical parameters for investment casting process and some proposal to implement a few new methods for quality assurance of the processes and products. Finally a description of the economic impact of the critical manufacturing operations related to some specific case studies and possible goals have been identified.