Purchasing Resources for Pewter Casting

Pewter Casting Key Terms

Understand the pewter casting terminology for making smarter business choices
By Howard Robertson Pewter casting products are useful for industrial as well as non-industrial applications. The automotive and marine industries use pewter casting products for their durability. The jewelry and sculpture industries use these products for their aesthetic look and formability.
 

Whether you want to be a supplier of pewter casting products or you want to try pewter casting as a hobby, you will come across various technical terms. This guide intends to familiarize you with important pewter casting terms, such as melting point, captive or jobbing foundry, metric tonne and molds.

Melting point

Melting point of the material is the temperature at which a solid gets converted into a liquid at standard atmospheric pressure. Pewter has melting point of around 230° C. Therefore, furnaces for pewter casting process should be able to heat the material above 230° C.
Try: For the definition of this key term, read through glossary at the Department of Chemistry at Wisconsin University.

Captive or jobbing foundry

If you want to use pewter casting products as components of your products, you will need to establish a captive foundry. If your requirement for pewter castings is not regular, you can opt for a jobbing foundry.
Try: You can read through the explanations for captive and jobbing foundries at the glossary of foundry terms at Atlas Foundry, a jobbing foundry.

mt (Metric tonne)

Casting companies measure their melting capacity in metric tonnes per unit time (hour or shift). One metric tonne is equal to 1,000 kg.
Try: NatSteel Holdings, a supplier of steel and steel products, offers a glossary of steel terms, including the definition for metric tonne.

Ladles

A ladle is a bucket-shaped container that is used for moving and pouring molten metal into a mold. Generally, ladles have refractory brick lining laid internally to avoid damage to the container material.
Try: Ferralloy Inc., a supplier of casting products, offers a glossary of casting terms, including ladle.

Molds

A mold (also called casting die) is a die that has a cavity into which the molten metal can be poured to produce metal components that have the shape of the mold cavity. Pewter can be cast into molds made up of plaster, charcoal, baked clay, soapstone and sand.
Try: MetalCastingDesign.com, an online resource for metal casting buyers, offers a glossary of metal casting terms, such as ladle and mold.

Patterns

A pattern is the exact replica of the component to be produced by the casting process. A pattern is used to form the mold cavity and molten metal is then poured into this cavity. A pattern could be made up of wood, metal or ceramic.
Try: Energy Manager Training offers glossary of terms related to the foundry operations.