MOLOCHITEᵀᴹ

Designed for investment casting

MOLOCHITE aluminosilicate is produced by the calcination of specially selected kaolins mined and refined by Imerys in Cornwall in the UK.

The calcination process takes approximately 60 hours, with the product staying in the main tunnel kiln-firing zone for over 24 hours. A controlled time and temperature cycle fires our MOLOCHITE range to a peak temperature of 1500°C, thus ensuring stability, consistency and uniformity to the product. Calcination converts the kaolin minerals into a mixture of mullite crystals and amorphous siliceous glass, with no crystalline silica). The low, uniform thermal expansion rate of the MOLOCHITE range brings excellent resistance to thermal shock, while the flat and rough surface texture of the particles gives excellent keying properties for all most diffused bonding systems.

Imerys’ MOLOCHITE products are the standard backup refractory material in the production of investment casting shell moulds for equiax casting. A wide range of sized grades, carefully de-dusted, ranging from the very fine 50-80DD to the 16-30DD or 8-16DD are used as stucco in the investment casting process. The angular shape and the rough surface of the particles (as shown in the picture below) play an important role in the mechanical properties of the ceramic shell mold.

Our MOLOCHITE range flours ( -120, -200, -325 ) are used as fillers in the production of investment slurries and offer outstanding properties in terms of stability and consistency for both water and alcohol-based systems. The absence of any form of crystalline silica (quartz, cristobalite or tridymite) allows a lighter scheme of follow-up of the exposure of the workers.