Investment casting typically involves molding a wax pattern, dipping it in a ceramic slurry, and burning the wax away to create a cavity for metal casting. But for metal parts in development, short runs or bridge production situations, producing patterns in the conventional way may be too slow, expensive or difficult to justify.
Another option now available is 3D printed polymer patterns, which can be made from resins designed to burn cleanly away. The designs of these digitally manufactured patterns are easy to adjust, eliminating many of the challenges with wax patterns formed with tooling.
But 3D printed polymer offers another key benefit: lightweighting. While the literal weight of the pattern may not be an issue of concern, the lighter it can be 3D printed, the less material it will use — and the lower the cost and the easier the burn-out.
3D printing technology provider 3D Systems has developed design strategies available through its 3D Sprint software aimed at reducing the mass of 3D printed patterns. In the video above, filmed at RAPID+TCT 2025, see examples of patterns featuring its QuickCast Diamond and QuickCast Air infills, reducing the pattern material by 40% and 70% respectively compared to a solid version.
Related Resources
- More on QuickCast Air including its use by large-volume aerospace companies
- The PSLA 270 stereolithography platform used to produce the patterns in the video
- A different style of investment casting with 3D printed patterns, and how one company uses 3D printing to produce hollow ceramic shells, skipping patterns altogether
Transcript
Stephanie Hendrixson
You've heard of 3D printing for lightweighting of end-use products. But how about lightweighting of tooling like this investment casting pattern?
I'm Stephanie Hendrixson with Additive Manufacturing Media here at rapid + TCT 2025, in the 3D Systems booth. 3D Systems offers a full range of different 3D printing technologies, including an SLA 3D printer capable of making tooling like this. This is an investment casting pattern. Traditionally, a pattern like this would be made of wax, usually injection molded from wax, and then dipped in a ceramic slurry and used for casting of metal parts.
The pattern itself burns away and you end up with just a solid piece of metal. The challenge with that conventional workflow is that you first need a way to form the wax. So that usually necessitates developing an injection mold just to print the wax pattern, making those wax patterns going through the slurry step, and then ultimately doing the casting to get to the metal part that you ultimately want.
3D printing offers a faster route to these patterns. Patterns can be designed digitally, 3D printed out, and they work basically the same way in the investment casting process.
This material is designed to burn out cleanly and can be processed very similarly to those traditional wax patterns. That means that design changes are much easier because you don't have to first change the mold for the wax. You can just tweak the CAD file, print a new pattern very quickly. Much easier for design changes and product development.
So both of these patterns were made on 3D System’s PSLA 270 3D printer. It's a resin style 3D printer. And they were both designed using the Quick Cast design strategies available through 3D Sprint, a software platform from 3D systems. But you'll notice that they are designed with two different infill patterns. This is Quick Cast Diamond. It's a slightly denser pattern. And then this is Quick Cast Air, which is even lighter, uses even less material.
Both of these patterns are lighter and use less material than the conventional wax patterns. This one is about 40% less material than a traditional wax pattern would be. This one is about 70% less.
So why is light weighting important for investment casting patterns? One, it is a lighter weight, easier to maneuver tool. So you're just making it easier on the ultimate processors of these patterns. Two, there is less material to remove. 3D Systems describes this as basically trying to print a bubble. You want the least amount of material possible to build the form.
And then finally, it's a cost savings. Less material means you're just spending less money on your pattern material, which is ultimately not the part that you want. You really want that solid, dense metal part at the end.
If you'd like to learn more about lightweighting or about 3D printing in support of casting, visit AdditiveManufacturing.media or see the links in the video description. Thanks for watching.
