What is the best metal to cast?

When it comes to metal parts, only a few types of components compare to castings. Castings can be produced with fine detail, thin walls, excellent “as-cast” surface finish, shape into external or internal features, and near-net shapes. Furthermore, cast parts allow customers to money thanks to the minimal use of material, machining, and labor. While the question of whether or not to use castings is easy, it may be difficult to decide on which metal alloy to use for your cast parts. To help you out, we listed out a few of the best materials for alloy castings.

5 Best Materials for Alloy Castings

Casting is a suitable type of metal component for a wide variety of alloys. Here are a few of the best ones: Aluminum Alloys: The benefits of aluminum castings vary depending on which specific aluminum alloy is used but typically consist of good machinability, weldability, and corrosion resistance. Carbon Steel Alloys: Cast parts that use carbon steel alloys are known for their hardness and having a fair to good weldability and machinability. However, they are also known to have a poor resistance to corrosion. Nickel Alloys: Nickel alloys are used for castings largely due to their benefits that include great oxidation resistance, good weldability, and fair machinability. Cobalt Alloys: Castings that made out of cobalt alloys possess very good resistance to corrosion as well as great castability. Stainless Steel Alloys: These alloys often are the best option for cast parts that require resistance to oxidation and corrosion. No matter which material you choose for your alloy castings, Ferralloy, Inc. can provide you with the finest possible part for your next project. We are experts is all casting process and will offer you with the best process option to ensure that your costs are minimized and quality is never compromised. Contact us today for more information about alloy castings or a personalized quote today!

When our customers embark on a custom cast metal award, they have a variety of options to consider, including the overall design of the award, size of the award, and the type of material the award will be created from. We work with a broad set of materials for these custom awards, including crystal, glass, acrylic, nylon, resin, wood and metal. For cast sculpture awards, in most cases the material choice comes down to bronze versus pewter.

Both materials can be the basis for stunningly beautiful and creative recognition awards. However, there are important differences that can influence the decision as to the right material to use for a specific sculpture award. 

Both metals are primarily composed of copper and tin. The ratio of these two components in each metal is different, however, and this creates significant differences in the metals themselves. Bronze is primarily copper alloyed with small amount of tin. Pewter, on the other hand, is primarily tin alloyed with a small amount of copper. These ratios mean that bronze is a heavier, denser metal, while pewter is a lighter, softer metal.

One implication of this is that the temperature required to melt each metal is significantly different. Bronze typically melts at approximately 2,200 degrees, while pewter only requires 500 degrees to liquefy. This variance in melting temperature changes the way sculptures created from each metal are cast. As outlined in our article on the recognition award production process, pewter can be poured directly into the rubber mold that was formed around the original model. Bronze, on the other hand, has to go through a few more steps. Wax is poured into the rubber mold, the wax is then dipped in a slurry to create a ceramic shell, the wax is then melted out of the ceramic shell (“lost wax” process), and then the molten bronzed is poured in the resulting cavity of the ceramic shell.