SRS - Investment Powders: Artcast

Artcast - Investment powder for sculpture and art

Plaster casting for large sculptures

SCULPTURE™ is a plaster based investment powder developed for the manufacture of large castings in bronze or brass by the lost wax process. SCULPTURE™ has been designed to be used for especially large castings with up to 1000kg of investment powder per mould.

SCULPTURE™ offers the following benefits to the sculpture foundires:

SCULPTURE™ contains only the purist closely graded raw materials to give utmost consistency in addition to high green and fired strengths. The product can be adjusted to suit individual customer requirements.
SCULPTURE™ mixes easily to give a creamy consistency with minimal air entrapment and can be mixed in follow on batches when handling large quantities.
SCULPTURE™ is formulated to give extra strength to withstand the increased forces when dealing with large bronze / brass castings.
SCULPTURE™ gives an excellent surface finish with high definition of both large and thin sections.
SCULPTURE™ is highly refractory to withstand the slower cooling properties of large quantities of liquid metal.
SCULPTURE™ can be packed in either 25kg bags or bulk bags up to 1500kg.

MIXING INSTRUCTIONS

Add the powder to the water in the recommended proportions in a mechanical mixer and mix for 4 minutes.
Ideally the resultant slurry should be vacuumed for 1.1./2 minutes before being poured around the pattern, followed by a further vacuum of 1.1/2 minutes after the pattern has been covered. After vacuuming fill the pattern to the top.
If there is insufficient time for both vacuum cycles omit the first cycle. Gentle vibration will also assist in the removal of air bubbles.

DRYING CYCLE

The moulds are allowed to stand for a minimum of 3 hours after mixing.
The moulds may be dry dewaxed by heating them up to 200C and maintaining this temperature for 3 to 4 hours (size dependant).
Increase the oven temperature at a rate of 70-90C per hour up to 725C. Burnout will be complete after 4 - 6 hours from reaching the final temperature.
After burnout the moulds are allowed to cool to casting temperature at the natural cooling rate of the furnace