Metal Casting

Metal Casting

Metal casting is a fabrication process which consists of pouring molten metals into a custom designed mold and allowing them to solidify into that shape. A flexible and efficient method of fabricating complex and intricate designs, many manufacturers use it to produce parts and components that would typically require several processes. For example, rather than employing separate folding, shearing, and stamping operations, precision metal casting can produce high volumes of uniform and accurate components in one continuous process.

Mardek, LLC employs a variety of casting methods and materials to create custom parts and components for our customer’s unique applications.

Advantages of Metal Casting

Metal casting provides a number of advantages to the manufacturing and assembly industries, including:

• a greater range of tolerances for shaping and fabricating complex parts,
• greater precision and accuracy to the designed net-shape (which reduces the amount of secondary machining necessary to achieve the final product),
• capabilities for more lightweight designs,
• ease of modification and more flexibility in part designs and molds,
• incorporation of features like cavities or hollow sections into the design,
• one-piece production of large parts, ensuring a seamless finish and stronger component, and
• lower production costs per part, especially for medium and large runs.

Another advantage of precision metal casting is the range of suitable production materials; almost any metal can be melted and cast into the desired shape. Using metal casting allows manufacturers that need to use a particular material to avoid unnecessary production costs and difficulty.

Metal Casting Methods for Any Application

At Mardek, LLC, we have the capabilities to handle projects with a variety of specifications and expectations. Our selection of machining tools and practical experience allow us to produce everything from large, heavy pieces to small, delicate components in large quantities. Our list of metal casting services include:

• Die casting
  High pressure injection into Steel molds of non-ferrous materials, such as Aluminum, Zinc, Magnesium, Brass. Molds may be used repeatedly.
• Investment casting
  Gravity feed into ceramic molds, The molds are made with injection molded wax patterns. Molds are single use. Commonly used materials are Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and Brass.
• Sand casting
  Gravity feed into sand molds, Molds are made using Aluminum or wood patterns. Molds are single use. Commonly used materials are Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and Brass.
• Permanent mold
  Gravity feed casting method using steel molds. Molds may be used repeatedly. Commonly used materials are Aluminum and Brass.
• Metal injection molding (MIM)
  Employs a combination of Powdered Metal and Polymer binding material for the injection into a Steel mold. Steel based materials are most common.
• Hot and cold forging
  Shapes materials via compressive forming into Steel molds at high or ambient temperatures. Commonly used materials are Steel, Aluminum, and Brass and Copper.

We also offer full-service capabilities to help streamline the production process, such as:

• Precision machining (e.g., milling, turning, and screw machining)
• Heat treatment
• Statistical process control
• Assembly
• Finishing (e.g., polishing, plating, e-coating, powder coating, painting, and anodizing)

While metal casting supports virtually any metal material, these are some of the most popular materials used when casting industrial components:

• Aluminum
• Beryllium
• Carbon Steel
• Magnesium
• Nickel
• Nickel Alloys
• Stainless Steel
• Titanium
• Tool Steel
• Zinc

Over 15 years of building business relationships in the Asian manufacturing market gives Mardek, LLC access to highly vetted and certifiably reliable factories. The factories we work with conform to the highest applicable safety and quality standards, including ISO 9001 and TS16949. With unprecedented access to factories, raw material, knowledge, and expert personnel, Mardek, LLC guarantees on-time delivery of superior components to all of our clients.