Casting/Melting

Alloying, Casting and Melting Arranging Wax Models for Platinum Casting The Investment Process The Casting Process Recovering the Casting Good Housekeeping with Scrap

Manual Index

Casting/Melting
Alloying, Casting and Melting
Casting is a basic method for making claws and head settings, ring shanks with or without settings attached, charms, chain links, bracelet and brooch parts.
Follow the route: Select the pattern(s), usually metal originals. special investment.

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no such allowance because of the stability of the Platinum casting alloys offer a high degree of fluidity to fill small sections and reveal textures. In some respects, because oxidation and gas resistance of platinum requires no fluxes or degassing, the process is simpler than with 18 carat gold or standard silver. Casting scrap may be safely recycled and even 100% scrap melt charges can be used. It is the rapid loss of heat on casting that presents the major difference.

Form rubber about the pattern(s). Make models in wax. Design sprues in wax and build selected models onto a wax base. Surround with a suitable flask. Invest with refractory slurry and de-air. Allow to set. Heat to dry, de-wax and preheat for casting. Choose alloy and weigh out charges. Melt, stir and superheat to casting temperature. Spincast to preheated investment moulds. Cool whole cast mould. Knock out the castings while hot and quench in water. Clean up and trim sprues from castings. The use of platinum introduces nothing new in principle nor in the sequence of operations. Most platinum jewellery castings are custom-made by specialists to clients' specifications and patterns. But the precision casting of platinum is a logical extension of skills for gold, and can be done on a craft or small commercial batch scale. Casting platinum is not difficult. If a master pattern is common to both 18 carat gold and standard platinum, the cast weight of the platinum alloy will be about 30% higher than for the gold. Weight for weight, platinum alloy is 19.5 to 20.5 times heavier than the wax, depending on the alloy. With 18 carat gold, a 3% apparent contraction compared with the master pattern is usually allowed for the relative expansion/contraction of the investment and gold alloy. Platinum requires

This can be countered by: Careful sprue design. Using the most refractory and dense investment. A high investment preheat temperature. Plenty of melting power, to obtain a higher casting temperature. A high torque (acceleration) spinning arm.

Brief Reminder of Casting Alloys

Table 2A summarises the most commonly available platinum casting alloys. Several more of the alloys in Table 1B (Section 1) may be cast although they were not developed specifically for casting. Other casting alloys are available if market demands and marking regulations allow their economic use. Cobalt alloys are preferred for rings, brooch and bracelet parts because of strength and hardness. Palladium alloys are softer and are preferred for settings and delicate patterns. The cobalt alloys are slightly bluer and the palladium alloys slightly greyer than pure platinum.

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Composition: % of Alloying Elements 5% 5% 3% 5% 3% Cobalt Cobalt/5% Palladium Cobalt/7% Palladium Cobalt/10% Palladium Cobalt/12% Palladium Pt Fineness 100 95 90 90 85 85 95 95 90 95 95 90 85 95 Recommended Casting Temp Range C Large Castings Small Castings 1973 2173 1965 2165 1935 2135 1940 2140 1930 2130 1930 2130 1850 1965 2000 1965 1965 1950 1950 1995 2050 2165 2200 2165 2165 2150 2150 2195 Applications/Notes

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999.5 Fine PT Fluid for hard castings Fluid for harder castings Hard castings Harder castings Med hard castings Hard, springy, can be cast No metal-mould reaction Smooth, bright surfaces Finer detail Softer castings, intricate settings Softer castings, intricate settings Softer castings, intricate settings Some roughness and difficult to fill finest sections

1.5% Indium/3% Gallium 5% Indium 10% Indium 1.5% Indium/3.5% Palladium 5% Palladium 10% Palladium 15% Palladium 5% Ruthenium

Table 2A Outline properties of casting alloys for platinum jewellery.

Arranging Wax Models for Platinum Casting

Small-Scale Single Layer Arrangement

There is no reason why a jeweller should not cast, say, 35 to 70grams of platinum settings or the parts of a ring or brooch, in a single layer on a flat cone, using short, straight sprues (Figure 2A). This minimises the travel of the molten metal during spin-casting and the distance of feeding with still-liquid metal during solidification.

inventory costs down and the productive yield of each melt high.

Medium-Scale Branching Arrangement

A more typical weight for a platinum jewellery melt is 100 to 450 grams. If more is required in one session, a number of moulds would be used. Bearing in mind the high density of platinum casting alloys (20 to 21 g/cm3) this may mean, say, 10 - 20 head settings or 4 - 24 ring shanks. These are normally arranged along branches off the base, but mainly in a single layer (Figures 2B to 2D).

Tree Arrangement
Figure 2A. A small arrangement of head settings where waxes spread from the wider part of the cone. Only about one third of the cone would be filled with molten metal but this would still ensure feeding with minimum scrap.

Waxes may be mounted in tree fashion where there is the capacity for melting and casting shots of 400 grams and over, but the same "short distance" sprues still apply. A tree might consist of a total melt of 900 grams with 500 grams in a central stem with short sprues off and 400 grams of castings. Although the stem may be tapered a little to increase percentage yield, this configuration tends to be less effective in metal utilisation. Casts of up to 1 kilogram have been made.

The cone is more a gate to the real casting space than a reservoir of feeder metal. However, sufficient metal is still needed to fill a proportion of the base as well as the actual castings, to add pressure when the metal is cast. If too much is used, some is likely to splash back when spinning. Platinum scrap can be remelted with virtually no losses, but minimising scrap keeps

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Assemblies Versus Integral Casting
It is sometimes better to design a piece in sections and assemble them by soldering or welding (Figures 2B and 2C). Cleaning and polishing of separate parts may be more efficient than with an integral casting (Figure 2D).

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Figure 2D. Bulkier head settings cast integral with shanks.

As with any jewellery alloy, platinum casting is more difficult with: Long wire & tube sections, Large thin areas, Deep holes or cavities with small openings, Forms that curve back on themselves, Claws(prongs) thicker at the tips than the base, Sharp inverted V-shapes. Design should tend away from these extremes.

Sprue Design.
Care at the wax arrangement and sprue design stage minimises the proportion of process scrap and scrap castings. It is often thought that platinum castings require thicker sprues than gold, but if the correct amount of superheat is used there is no need. The minimum sprue cross-section should not be less than the largest cross-section of the casting it directly feeds because the sprue must freeze last to allow feeding to compensate for casting shrinkage. Where sprues join, they need smooth fillets to avoid turbulent metal flow. It may help to sprue a ring, offset tangentially, or to several points at the edge of a horizontal ring. Alternatively, two or three simple sections

Figure 2B. A typical single layer set-up for ring shanks weighing about 120 grams, contained in a 65mm circle by 45mm high with its economical feeder head. It fits a standard 75mm diameter by 100mm high flask.

may be cast in a stack and parted on a lathe later.

Figure 2C. A group of claw/head settings for part-finishing and then joining to shanks.

Figure 2E. Examples of Sprue Design.

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The Investment Process
Platinum alloys are cast at over 2000C into investment moulds preheated to about 1000C, so the most refractory, thermal shock and metal penetration-resistant investments must be used, such as those developed for stainless steel, nickel or cobalt superalloy precision castings.

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mould and scrap castings. Details are important; shortcuts should be avoided and the investment manufacturer's instructions for a specific investment should be followed closely. A whisk is designed to introduce air into the mix and although this may help mobility of the investment to some extent, this is counterproductive. The investment has to be de-aired again in the short period between pouring and setting. Finely divided air bubbles or foam is the worst form to deal with and produces large changes in volume between investment de-airing and setting. A dough hook is mechanically more satisfactory and introduces a more controllable amount of air.

Investment Compounds
While gypsum-based investments (a refinement of Plaster of Paris known as Hydrocal) are satisfactory for silver and most gold alloys, they are unsuitable for platinum due to lack of refractoriness and sulphur contamination. Platinum investment mixtures are normally the phosphate type. They consist of a refractory flour such as silica, mixed with ethanol, or acid phosphate and magnesia, to form a pourable cream. They are usually thixotropic with the powder more difficult to wet uniformly and easier to re-separate than plaster investments. They need to be uniformly mixed using a dough mixer rather than a whisk.

Flasks
Flasks must be made from metal that will withstand many uses at the burnout temperature, which is finally about 1000C. Stainless steel may be used but flasks made from Inconel are usually more economic, taking a balance of initial cost and long life. Flask size is limited by the clearances in the casting machine at its largest, but it must be large enough to comfortably contain the casting array, leaving not less than 7mm between the inside of the flask and the nearest wax. Suitable flasks are supplied in a range of sizes, typically 50 to 100mm high by about 65 mm diameter for small machines, and 125 or 150 by 100mm diameter for large machines, cut from 1.0 to 1.5mm wall tube, or sheet, rolled and welded. The capacity of each size of flask without patterns in place should be noted so that a total amount of investment needed for a series of casts can be estimated to avoid shortfall or excessive waste.

Investing
Attention to detail in investing the pattern is important. Adequate vibration and vacuum deairing is needed to get rid of bubbles, particularly from the surfaces of the wax patterns. The subsequent drying out, dewaxing, burnout, firing and preheat prior to casting differ, one formula from another, for optimum results. For instance, while a gypsum-based formula sets in about 6-7 minutes and may be dewaxed with steam, a phosphate-based formula sets in about 14-18 minutes and, once set, should not be kept moist. (Steam dewaxing of phosphate may not be harmful but it does require careful control and most platinum casters favour dry dewaxing.) A gypsum binder may benefit from a retarder while platinum investments may benefit from an accelerator to speed up setting. Once started, the burnout cycle should be completed or the flask discarded. Avoid reheating a partially fired flask from a previous day. With the removal of moisture in the initial firing, the subsequent re-expansion would probably cause serious cracking of the

Flask Lining
Until recently, most texts dealing with investment for gold and silver jewellery casting advised that an asbestos paper liner should be used on the inside of the flask before pouring the investment. This acted as a blotting paper during investment and as a mildly refractory cushion against

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Casting/Melting
expansion and shrinkage of the investment during firing. Modern substitutes for asbestos paper are available, but there is no need to use a flask liner at all with the high refractory investments used for platinum casting.

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This is then reinvested, preferably with the special refractory mixture described above for casting platinum on its own. The new wax is melted out, leaving the platinum setting in place. Even preheating prior to the second casting stage does not oxidise the platinum alloy. When another jewellery alloy such as molten 18 carat gold is injected it solidifies in contact with, and welds firmly to, the solid platinum alloy piece already in place. Many other combinations are possible, giving a versatile style of design for combination jewellery where marking regulations allow. This subject is dealt with more fully in the section on combination jewellery.

Reinvesting or Co-Casting with Platinum

The versatility of the lost-wax investment process, and good hot strength and excellent oxidation resistance of platinum jewellery alloys combine to form an excellent basis for co-casting solid platinum with another molten alloy. Probably the commonest example of this in the past has been to produce a gem setting in platinum, pre-polish it and then attach it to a wax ring shank pattern.

The Casting Process

Temperatures Involved. The investment assembly cannot be preheated much over 1000C, so there is a 750C gap between the freezing temperature of the melt and the investment surface. This chilling factor is high and solidification time is typically only three or four seconds compared with gold at more than 20 seconds. With 18 carat gold the temperature difference is only about 300C, a much lower chilling factor.

The best way to avoid premature freezing of platinum alloy is to use a superheat of about 200C for a heavy cross-section such as a wedding ring blank, increasing to about 400C for a light cross-section such as a diamond setting. To find the casting temperature, add this superheat to the liquidus temperature given in Table 1B. This projects casting temperatures of 1850C to 2200C (see Table 2A). Unlike most 18 carat golds, the difference between the beginning (liquidus) and end of solidification (solidus) for platinum casting alloys, is only a few C. They have a narrow liquidus/solidus gap and freeze more like a pure metal, so there is no difficult pasty zone feeding that might lead to shrinkage porosity.

cone. It is possible to achieve a reasonably high rate of melting with an oxy-fuel gas cutting torch without using the supplementary cutting oxygen supply. This is the main method used for castings by the craftsman, usually with a spring-powered vertical spin casting machine (see Figure 2F). This is a cost-effective way of introducing platinum casting to a manufacturing operation traditionally dominated by gold production.

Figure 2F. Vertical spin casting machine.

Melting
Platinum alloys are melted by oxy-fuel flame or medium frequency induction melting. Butane or coal gas may be the fuel composite but only oxygen is capable of giving a sufficiently fierce flame for melting and welding; air places too much of a cooling burden. The hottest part of the flame is just beyond the sharply defined inner

More productive precision casting on a commercial scale followed the development of crucibles that would act both as a melting pot in an induction coil and as a pouring ladle in a high acceleration horizontal spin-cast machine. Melting losses are low, melting is rapid given plenty of power, and the melt is homogenised by the induction current.

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Power/heat conversion can be as high as 95% efficient. A 5kVA melting set is required for speed of melting and good temperature control, for up to 300 grams melts and lOkVA for melts up to about 650 grams.

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splashes or burning an image into the retina of the eye. This also provides a consistent degree of colour and intensity filtration for the judgement of casting temperature. Even through dark green welding goggles, the surface of the melt above 1800C is a glaring pearly white but, with practice, it is possible to judge the difference between nominal 1800, 2000 and 2200C. Crucible life at these temperatures is short, so platinum casting specialists prefer to bring the melt up to about 2000C, hold on balanced power while the mould is placed and then time the input of power to a small or large degree of superheat. Pouring is to a time signal rather than at an apparent temperature. Older machines can just melt a limited weight of platinum with full power. As the casting temperature is approached, heat losses just about balance the maximum power input and the temperature ceases to rise further. More recent machines have preprogrammed power control with automatic frequency tuning so that heat generates well within the melt. The power is automatically reduced as the pre-selected temperature is reached.

The Charge
It is difficult to guarantee homogeneity in small melts starting with pure platinum and addition alloy; particularly aiming at a precise fineness. The safer practice is to remelt grain already to specification, or chopped sheet/rod which will have been homogenised by prior working. No flux is needed when melting standard platinum jewellery alloys because the melt does not oxidise. It is rarely necessary to prod the charge or stir the melt when using electric melting but, if necessary, a refractory (eg., tungsten carbide or fused~silica rod) stirrer must be used because most metals alloy too readily with platinum.

Crucibles
Carbon based crucibles are not satisfactory because platinum is embrittled by dissolved carbon, so high temperature (up to 2300C), refractory crucibles are used. Fused silica, alumina or zirconia, (possibly with a cushion of magnesia granules or a prefired internal glaze) crucibles may be used, the choice depending on the balance of cost and number of melts in one session. As a precaution against thermal shock, it helps to heat the crucible slowly for the first in a series of melts; preheating in the burnout furnace is useful provided the crucible does not contact any residual wax. It does no harm to preheat the first metal charge in the crucible at the same time.

Spin-Casting
The method that has produced the most consistent quality is spin casting. This centrifuges the dense platinum alloy quickly into the mould to minimise premature cooling. Some machines have an electronic controller that cuts off melting power, lowers the coil quickly and powerfully accelerates the spin arm carrying the preheated mould. Machines have generally developed with high acceleration and the necessary energy has to be provided quickly at start-up. Nevertheless, there can be too much acceleration and platinum can impact beyond unrestricted sprues with considerable force and produce a coarse finish due to mould penetration. A useful compromise is to use a horizontal sprue off the base and steeply angled branches off either the horizontal or vertical stems (Figure 2C). This achieves high feeding pressure without direct impact.

Judging When to Cast

Molten platinum, free from oxides and flux, has very high emissivity. The photocell reading may only be a guide to the right point to cast the metal, aided by its colour as seen through familiar goggles. It is essential to always use adequate eye protection including ultraviolet and colour filtration, to protect against remote

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Recovering the Casting
When the casting array has solidified but not cooled below red heat, the flask should be held in tongs and the array hammered out and plunged into cold water. This begins the process of breaking up the residual investment around the casting. Do not quench the whole flask, even horizontally, red-hot: it may cause a scalding eruption! While flasks can be rounded again and re-used many times, it helps to knock out the casting by hammering the open ends rather than the flask. High temperature investments are tenacious and some or all of steam cleaning, hydrofluoric acid, and grit blasting (alumina grit/glass beads) are effective in removing them. A rough silicon carbide grain can clean most surfaces while smooth, ball-shaped grit is useful for compacting and brightening surfaces. Sprues should be removed as neatly as possible to avoid lengthy filing. Short-nosed piano-wire cutters shear through most sprues and pick off other small nodules readily. A fine slitting disc is useful if there is good straight access to the sprue root; otherwise, a piercing saw may be used. Specialist casters normally leave a residual sprue root of about 1mm to be removed by the client rather than risk undercutting the profile of the component itself. Castings may be readily joined to wrought platinum components and there is no clear different technique between joining castings to wrought platinum components and the repair of castings. Minor casting faults can be closed by welding. This can be done by reducing a cut-off sprue to wire and using it as a weld filler using techniques outlined in the section on soldering/welding and lasers. Most platinum castings are hand-finished; hence the need for as good an as-cast finish as possible. However, barrelling is possible using a tumble-polisher with burnishing compound and polishing shapes in much the same way as for white gold - as detailed in the section on finishing.

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WARNING
Hydrofluoric acid (use 1 part to 3 parts water) is a very aggressive liquid, which: Fumes even when cold. Corrodes through glass and most metals. Dissolves away residual investment. Can only be contained in lead, polyethylene or paraffin wax containers. Requires containers with easily removable covers. Must be handled with industrial grade rubber or plastic gloves, wood or plastic covered tongs. Must be washed off with plenty of water after use. Keep soda solution (100 grams sodium carbonate in 4 litres of water) near to neutralise any HF burns or smears and carry out the whole process under a ventilated hood. Use eye shields or protective glasses.

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Good Housekeeping with Scrap
Always carefully segregate, package and label cast trimmings, sprues and scrap castings, by alloy type if not by job number. Re-melt any specific casting alloy with a proportion of new grain or squares, but an occasional all clean scrap charge is fine. Small amounts of a single, clean, general or handworking alloy can be fused together on a ceramic tile with a welding torch; forged, reheated and used for small jobs such as drawing or machining. Mixed, dirty or sweepings type scrap is best returned for refining. It may first be burnt off and steel filings/grindings removed with a magnet, except with Pt-Co alloys which are magnetic.

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Keep a Record of Your Process
Platinum alloys are valuable and should not be mixed indiscriminately, either as good product or as scrap. All production should be recorded with job number, pattern configuration, alloy, casting temperature, weight yielded and notes of the results. Batches of castings and scrap should also be correspondingly labelled with the job number. Good records build up good experience for successful repeats and identify "lessons learnt" and economic recovery by minimising scrap.

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