Precision Casting of Tennessee Offers Two Examples
The original wormgear on a defense
application (Figure 2) manufactured by Precision Castings of Tennessee (PCT) had been an investment casting of 304 stainless steel since its design in the late 1970s. But changes in the design of the weapon required the casting be made stronger without losing corrosion resis- tance and stability. Precision Castings of Tennessee and the versatility of the investment casting process provided the solution. Changing the geometry could have added weight to the casting and might have interfered with other compo- nents in the system. Simply changing the alloy was the best option, and 17-4PH al- loy was chosen based on its toughness, strength and corrosion resistance. In another example from PCT, de-
sign freedom and alloy choice made investment casting the best choice for manufacturing an assembly of parts in the "Cable-Tite" tie down system for fixing the walls and a roof to its foundation to protect the structure against high winds. A small design feature used in the cast- ings provided a channel for cables to slide
freely. The nearly unlimited alloy choice of investment casting allowed the free- dom to design for form and fit, and then choose a alloy to achieve the required me- chanical strength. The result was a mod- ern aesthetically pleasing look with extra features such as alignment guide lines,
no-slip knurling, ribbing for strength, and company logo cast into the parts. While some of these design features would have been possible in some other manufactur- ing process, all together they would have been implausible outside the versatility of the investment casting process.
Figure 3-- Precision Castings of Tennessee was able to design first and then choose the best alloy for the job. The combination of design features would have been difficult if not impossible with other manufacturing processes.
Figure 2– A new wormgear cast by Precision Castings of Tennessee for a defense appli- cation was a simple matter of changing alloys.
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