Metal casting and Investment procedure

1. The whole process starts with the anamnesis and the planning
procedure. Preparation is the next step. It can be either shoulder,
chamfer preparation or tangential (knife edge) preparation.

2. The dentist makes an impression of prepared teeth.

3. In the lab the impression gets analyzed before a positive split cast is
made, which is the exact replica of the dental arch. Split cast basically
means that parts of it can be removed and put back into the same position.
To achieve that pins and two types of plaster are used, which are separated
with a special separation liquid. (There are different techniques to make
split-casts)

4. After that a thin layer of varnish is applied (similar to nail polish but made
especially for plaster) on the abutments only (a tooth, root, or implant used
for support and retention of a fixed or removable prosthesis) that will save
space for cement. Without this process the crowns and bridges would be
hard or impossible to remove.

5. After applying the varnish we have to make the caps. We can use either
foil, or dipping wax to do that. If the preparation was shouldered, we chose
the dipping wax method to do the simple caps.

6. The next step is to apply the modeling wax onto the caps.

7. Once the bridge pattern has been modeled in wax, and all the parts
connected, we put sprues of wax. The sprue must be large enough so
that it remains open until the casting solidifies. The sprue is carefully
heated up and sticked it to the wax pattern. Often the end of the sprue
is pinched down to a slightly smaller diameter. This tapering
increases the velocity of the metal flowing into the pattern. The other
end of the sprue is attached to the base wax platter. It is very important
that the pattern is positioned 6 mm from the end and from the edge of the
ring.

8. Next step is the precise casting of metal -So we get a very precise
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metallic duplicate of the wax pattern.

The most common metals used in technician labs: Chrome-cobalt alloy,

chrome-cobalt-nickel alloy, silver-palladium alloy, gold alloy, titanium.
There are information’s that we need to know before the processing. We
need to be familiar with data like: density, preheating temperature, casting
temperature, Vickers hardness, etc.

9. Investment

Summary: The wax pattern is surrounded with investment material,

and then the wax is removed by heating the investment mold and then
the metal flows in the mold cavity.

The process of making the mold is called investing. Investment materials

can be either phosphate bonded, plaster bonded, or silicate bonded,
depends what we use it for.
Investing materials are used to invest the wax patterns and in that way
get a mold that is going to be used for casting the metal after the wax
was removed by heating the mold up.
It can be processed with or without ring. The ring needs to be wrapped
with a special fleece. It provides space for the investment material to
expand that surrounds the wax pattern that we already attached to the
base.

It contains quartz which we should not inhale, so we always have to wear

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mask when we work with this material.

Composition of Investment materials:

Refractory material (SiO2, quartz, trydimit, cristobalite)

Binder material: gypsum, phosphate, silicate
Other chemicals: NaCl, boric acid, K2SO4, graphite, magnesium oxide

9/1. The investment material is mixed with distilled water and a special
liquid that is sold separately. The ratio of water and this special liquid
depends on how "tight" or "lose" you want the investment.

9/2. Once the water or special liquid is added, the investment material is
vacuum mixed to remove air bubbles. Then it is carefully poured into
the form.

The investment material has two different expansions. It expands when

it is solidifying, and it has a second expansion (thermal expansion) when
put in the burnout furnace. The metal in the mold is shrinking and this
shrinkage has to be in perfect harmony with the expansion of the
investment material in order to get perfect results, where the metal bridge is
exactly the same size as the wax pattern was.

The total expansion of the investment material must equal the

contraction of the metal that is being casted!

It is a difficult process, but the manufacturers give information how to use

their material. Even though we possess those information’s, we still need
experience to get perfect results.

When the investment material is setting it warms up to 60-80 Celsius

degree. Protection gloves are needed.

10. We wait about 10 minutes, and then place the already set investment
to the furnace. Depending on the type of the investment material, we can
either turn up the furnace to the firing temperature or we heat it up slowly.
The ring (the form) is then placed into the furnace and left until the
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wax has burned out completely, and the mold has reached the proper
temperature for casting specific type of metal.

11. When the furnace reaches the firing temperature (920 Celsius
degree), we place the metal alloy in the ceramic cup and preheat it in
the furnace. Without this step it would be difficult to melt the metal and the
investment material would cool down. It is important to act quickly, for the
ring should still be as hot as possible when placed in the casting unit to
avoid temperature shock.
Now we move the hot ring and ceramic cup to the casting unit or casting
machine.

There is a melting torch that belongs to the unit that is mixing the oxygen
and gas.
Once the metal flows, we back the torch off a little to avoid overheating, as
we do not wish to evaporate important elements from the metal.
We need to wear safety glasses.

12. Centrifugal force drives the melted metal into the mold.
We use a different cup for each type of metal; so that left over traces of
metal left in the cup from previous castings do not contaminate our end
product.

13. Wait till the ring is completely cooled down.

14. When it’s cold, we carefully remove the ring, break the investment
material, and sandblast the bridges under 2 -4 bar pressure.
For cutting of the sprue we can use separating discs.

15. The surface is then treated using grinding stones, diamond grinding
stones, milling sets and rubber polishing wheels.