Tips for Designing Parts in Stainless Steel Casting

Stainless steel casting is a manufacturing process that involves melting stainless steel and pouring it into a mold to create a desired shape. This process is widely used in various industries, including aerospace, automotive, medical, and more. Designing parts for stainless steel casting requires careful consideration of various factors to ensure the final product meets the required specifications. Here are some tips for designing parts for stainless steel casting.

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Consider the alloy type
Cast stainless steel alloys come in different grades (304, 316, 17-4ph, duplex, etc), each with unique characteristics such as corrosion resistance, strength, and weldability. Before designing a part, it&#;s important to determine the specific alloy that best suits the intended use of the part. This will help ensure the final product meets the required mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.

Keep wall thickness consistent
Consistent wall thickness is essential for producing high-quality castings. Uneven wall thickness can result in casting defects such as warping, porosity, and cracking. As a rule of thumb, the wall thickness of the part should be kept as uniform as possible, and thicker sections should be gradually tapered to thinner sections.

Avoid sharp corners
Sharp corners can create stress points in the casting, leading to cracking or other defects. To avoid this, it&#;s important to round off corners and edges as much as possible. Designers should aim for a minimum radius of twice the wall thickness for all corners.

Use fillets and radii
Fillets and radii are essential features in designing parts for stainless steel casting. They help to reduce stress concentration, improve fluidity during the casting process, and eliminate sharp corners. Designers should aim for a minimum fillet radius of 0.5mm.

Consider draft angles
Draft angles are necessary for ensuring that the casting can be easily removed from the mold. Without draft angles, the casting may become stuck in the mold, leading to defects or damage to the casting or mold. Generally, a draft angle of 1 to 3 degrees is recommended for most castings.

Minimize undercuts
Undercuts are features that prevent the casting from being easily removed from the mold. They can cause defects in the casting or damage to the mold. Designers should aim to minimize undercuts as much as possible.

Design for manufacturability
Designing parts for stainless steel casting requires a balance between functionality and manufacturability. Designers should consider the manufacturing process when designing parts to ensure that the design is feasible and cost-effective. They should also work closely with the casting supplier to ensure that the design is optimized for the casting process.

Consider surface finish
Stainless steel casting can produce parts with a range of surface finishes, from rough to smooth. The surface finish of a casting can affect its performance, appearance, and cost. Designers should consider the intended use of the part when selecting the surface finish. For example, a smooth surface finish may be required for medical implants, while a rougher finish may be acceptable for industrial machinery.

Design for assembly
When designing parts for stainless steel casting, it&#;s important to consider how the parts will be assembled. The design should take into account any assembly processes, such as welding or machining, and ensure that the parts fit together properly.

Test the design
Before finalizing the design, it&#;s important to test it for feasibility and performance. Computer-aided design (CAD) software can be used to simulate the casting process and detect any potential issues. Prototype parts can also be manufactured to test the design and ensure that it meets the required specifications.

Consider the casting process
Different casting processes have different capabilities and limitations. Designers should work closely with the stainless steel casting supplier to ensure that the design is optimized for the selected casting process. For example, investment casting may be better suited to producing complex parts with intricate details, while sand casting may be better suited to producing simple, uniform parts.

Consider post-casting processing
After the casting process, parts may require additional processing such as heat treatment, machining, or finishing. Designers should consider these processes when designing the part to ensure that the design is compatible with post-casting processing.

In conclusion, designing parts for stainless steel casting requires careful consideration of various factors, including alloy type, wall thickness, sharp corners, fillets and radii, draft angles, undercuts, manufacturability, surface finish, assembly, testing, casting process, and post-casting processing. By following these tips, designers can ensure that their parts are designed to the highest standards and are optimized for the casting process.

Stainless steel has the advantages of high corrosion resistance, hygiene, and strength, it is a commonly used material in investment casting or lost wax casting process to creat precise stainless steel components for various applications, such as food machinery, marine hardwares, architectural hardwares, medical components, etc.

While there are many options of stainless steel casting grades, how can you ensure you are selecting the appropriate cast stainless steel grade for your specific needs?

Factor 1 &#; Casting Process

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Since we are talking about how to select a suitable stainless steel grade for casting, there is no doubt that the stainless steel grade selected is castable (refer to the castability of stainless steel). Although there are hundreds of stainless steel grades found, not all of them could be cast. The fluidity of molten steel is very critical, while some stainless steel grades have poor fluidity, but good machinability. Commonly used cast stainless steel grades are: 201, 303, 304, 309, 316, 410, 17-4 ph, , , etc.

In China even in the world, most stainless steel foundries could only cast stainless steel grades like 304 and 316 stainless steels. For precipitation-hardening stainless steel and duplex stainless steel, few stainless steel foundry could investment cast them. CFS Foundry has over 30 years&#; experience in the field of stainless steel investment casting, we can cast all the stainless steel grades mentioned above including 17-4 ph and duplex stainless steels.

Factor 2 &#; Corrosion Resistance

Corrosion resistance is the main reason for choosing a stainless steel casting grade. It is necessary to understand the amount of corrosion resistance in some stainless steels. Different grades come with different amounts of corrosion resistance.

For example, austenitic stainless steels can give you the most corrosion resistance since high amounts of chromium are present. Thus, investment casting of 304 stainless steel is usually done in our stainless steel foundry when corrosion resistance is vital. 316 stainless steel, with its added molybdenum content, has better corrosion resistance than 304 stainless steel, is preferred to cast stainless steel components for marine and chemical applications.

Factor 3 &#; Quality (strength, ductility, and toughness, etc)

Casting quality is one of the most important factos to consider a stainless steel casting grade. The casting quality mainly lies in the strength, ductility, and toughness of stainless steel.

When it comes to austenitic stainless steel, for the presence of nickel element, it provides the highest toughness and ductility among all types of stainless steel casting grades. For cast stainless steel grades with higher chromium, molybdenum, and nickel, the corrosion resistance are always the better.

Moreover, make sure that you should not be focusing solely on the alloy content when choosing a grade of stainless steel. When there is a high requirement on the strength, precipitation-hardening stainless steel or duplex stainless steel casting is suggested. CFS Foundry ever developped a safety stirrup design for our customer in Europe, high strength is required, so we made cast stainless steel samples with several grades for their selection, after testing, they prove that duplex stainless steel shows the best strength, eventually, we moved on mass production with the ideal strength.

Note that when post machining is operated after stainless steel casting, heat treatment is better to be operated, because, it can remove the inner stress and decrease the strength slightly, which can benefit further machining operation.

Factor 4 &#; Magnetic Properties

Magnetic properties should also be considered when choosing a reliable stainless steel casting grade for your part.

Basic stainless steel displays a &#;ferritic&#; structure and is magnetic as a result of the addition of chromium. You can harden it by adding carbon, thus making it &#;martensitic.&#;

On the other hand, the most common stainless steels are austenitic as they come with higher chromium content. You will also find nickel, which modifies the physical structure of the steel, making it non-magnetic.

Austenitic grades have a low magnetic reaction or &#;relative magnetic permeability.&#; The stainless steel grades rich in nickel content like the 316 or 310 grades are non-magnetic in any situation.

Thus, you can use them in applications where you require a non-magnetic metal. If you are looking for stainless steel grades with high magnetic response, opt for the ferritic and martensitic stainless steel grades (400 series). They come with high permeabilities and are classified as &#;ferromagnetic.&#; Also, consider the Duplex grades like while looking for ferromagnetic stainless steel grades.

CFS Foundry can also provide demagnetization process by adding nickel if the casting grade is magnetic, while you want to have a non-magnetic status.

Selecting a Stainless Steel Casting Supplier

CFS Foundry is the top leading stainless steel investment casting supplier in China. If you feel difficult to select a suitable grade for your stainless steel casting project, pls contact us for a professional consultation, or we can also provide samples in different grades for testing. Our stainless steel foundry can help you prioritize your material requirement and guide you toward choosing the perfect cast stainless steel grade for your application.

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