Shaw Process

A variant of investment casting, and used to produce high integrity steel castings using a ceramic moulding process, the Shaw Process uses ethyl silicate to produce the shells and has a shorter lead time and can be done with lower cost tooling, compared with investment casting.

The Shaw process is a precision casting process capable of the production of accurate moulds with excellent surface finish and metallurgical integrity. Moulds are produced using highly refractory aggregates bonded with silica provided by a liquid ethyl silicate binder. A high temperature firing treatment is a feature of the production sequence and this produces an inert mould into which the majority of commercial ferrous and non-ferrous alloys can be cast with confidence.

The process has been used commercially for many years; it was known before the Second World War that silicon esters could be used as refractory aggregate binders’. As with most processes there has been a continuous development, in particular with respect to the binder system and the methods of mould production.