Recycling is the key.

Society has seen the casting of metal for more than 5000 years. It is the most efficient method of producing parts with complex geometries. The foundry industry has also been known as a recycler of materials from it’s inception. Today’s foundries provide the ability to reclaim and reuse the metal content of industry’s and societies waste stream. The primary source of melt stock for Nova Precision Casting is process scrap from mill products and metal fabricators. Virgin metals are combined in small amounts to this source to adjust chemistries to meet modern metallurgical standards. The resulting end casting is truly a recycled product.

The environmental issues addressed do not stop with metal recycling as the Investment Casting process is probably the most environmentally friendly process of casting metal known today. Nova Precision Casting uses recycled wax for production of the wax shapes to start the process. Upon dewaxing of a ceramic shell in an autoclave, the wax is collected for reuse. The collected wax is filtered and tested for proper properties but is essentially a usable product upon excess water being removed from the autoclave processing.

Although the ceramic shell material cannot be recycled within the Investment Foundry operation, its nature renders it to be an environmental friendly material. Traditional foundry operations use 6 pounds of chemically bonded sand for every 1 pound of casting produced. The investment foundry uses an ionically bonded ceramic of only approximately 5/16 inch coating to the wax shape. The colloidal silica binders system produces a ceramic which does not produce organic fumes when the liquid metal is introduced into the shell. The ceramic, when broken off the casting, is a chemically stable material which can be recycled. Examples are as fill for construction projects or as a filler for concrete. Controlled land fill disposal is not necessary.

Society’s needs are for long term solutions, the Investment Casting process is one of the answers.