Reliance Foundry supplies thousands of investment castings each year - providing production of very intricate parts, while also providing cost effective replacements for many types of sand castings.

Investment casting, often called lost wax casting, is regarded as a precision casting process to fabricate near-net-shaped metal parts from almost any alloy. Although its history lies to a great extent in the production of jewellery, the most common use of investment casting in more recent history has been the production of components requiring complex, often thin-wall castings. It can be used to make parts that cannot be produced by normal manufacturing techniques, such as turbine blades that have complex shapes.

The mold is made by making a pattern using wax or some other material that can be melted away. This wax pattern is dipped in refractory slurry, which coats the wax pattern and forms a skin. After this, the entire pattern is placed in an oven and the wax is melted away. Because the mold is formed around a one-piece pattern (which does not have to be pulled out from the mold as in a traditional sand casting process), very intricate parts and undercuts can be made.

Tolerances of 0.5 % of length are routinely possible, and as low as 0.15 % is possible for small dimensions. Traditionally, investment castings can weigh from a few grams to 35 kg (0.1 oz to 80 lb), although the normal size ranges from 200 g to about 8 kg (7 oz to 15 lb). More often today, higher and higher weight castings are being produced using investment castings techniques. Normal minimum wall thicknesses are about 1 mm to about 0.5 mm (0.040-0.020 in) for alloys that can be cast easily.

The benefits of the investment casting process may be summed up by the four words - accuracy, versatility, integrity and finish. Few, if any, alternative metal forming methods can offer such a unique and broad spectrum of advantages. The process uses a one piece mould without joint lines or the need for draft angles, which allows for component shapes that have an aesthetic and uniform finish. The process allows virtually any alloy to be investment cast.