Investment Casting with Ice Patterns

Have you every heard of investment casting? If so you most likely know of the process used in industry. The process used in industry requires a pattern made from wax that is dipped in slurry to form a shell mold. To make the shell mold, which has seven layers, the wax pattern is dipped in slurry then sand and allowed to dry. After the mold has hardened then all the wax is melted out and the metal is poured into the mold. Once the mold has cooled then the part is then extracted from the mold. These parts need little machining and have high dimension accuracy. However, the wax particulates cause pollution. A substitute to the wax pattern is being introduced. This substitute is ice patterns. This process to make a mold with ice patterns is very different than the conventional process. This process can be further discussed