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Casting is a manufacturing process by which a liquid material such as a suspension of minerals as used in ceramics or molten metal or plastic is introduced into a mould, allowed to solidify within the mould, and then ejected or broken out to make a fabricated part. more...

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Casting is used for making parts of complex shape that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, such as cutting from solid material.

Casting may be used to form hot, liquid metals or meltable plastics (called thermoplastics), or various materials that cold set after mixing of components such as certain plastic resins such as epoxy, water setting materials such as concrete or plaster, and materials that become liquid or paste when moist such as clay, which when dry enough to be rigid is removed from the mold, further dried, and fired in a kiln or furnace.

Substitution is always a factor in deciding whether other techniques should be used instead of casting. Alternatives include parts that can be stamped out on a punch press or deep-drawn, forged, items that can be manufactured by extrusion or by cold-bending, and parts that can be made from highly active metals.

The casting process is subdivided into two distinct subgroups: expendable and nonexpendable mold casting:

Expendable mould casting

Expendable mould casting is a generic classification that includes sand, plastic, shell, plaster, and investment (lost-wax technique) moldings. This method of mould casting involves the use of temporary, nonreusable moulds.

Waste molding of plaster

A durable plaster intermediate is often used as a stage toward the production of a bronze sculpture or as a pointing guide for the creation of a carved stone. With the completion of a plaster the work is more durable (if stored indoors) than a clay original which must be kept moist to avoid cracking. With the low cost plaster at hand the expensive work of bronze casting or stone carving may be deferred until a prosperous patron is found, and as such work is considered to be a technical, rather than artistic processes it may even be deferred beyond the lifetime of the artist.

In waste molding a simple and thin plaster mold, reinforced by sisal or burlap, is cast over the original clay mixture. When cured it is then removed from the damp clay, incidentally destroying the fine details in undercuts present in the clay, but which are now captured in the mold. The mold may then at any later time (but only once) be used to cast a plaster positive image, identical to the original clay. The surface of this "plaster" may be further refined and may be painted and waxed to resemble a finished bronze casting.

Sand casting

Sand casting requires a lead time of days for production at high output rates (1-20 pieces/hr-mold), and is unsurpassed for large-part production. Green (moist) sand has almost no part weight limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part mass limit of 2300-2700 kg. Minimum part weight ranges from 0.075-0.1 kg. The sand is bonded together using clays (as in green sand) or chemical binders, or polymerized oils (such as motor oil.) Sand in most operations can be recycled many times and requires little additional input.

Read more at Wikipedia.org