The stainless steel ball valve body is the main pressure-bearing shell of ball valves. It encloses the ball core, seats and sealing assemblies, and is widely used to control the on-off of liquid and gas media. Investment casting (lost wax casting) is the ideal process to manufacture this complex valve housing.

The investment casting process starts with a wax pattern identical to your ball valve body drawing. The wax assembly is dipped layer by layer into refractory ceramic slurry to build a strong ceramic shell. After drying, the shell undergoes dewaxing at high temperature. The preheated mould is ready for pouring molten stainless steel. Once cooled, the ceramic shell is removed, and the casting is cleaned, ground and fully inspected.

Investment Casting Process Steps

The process of Baoding Guokun Investment casting involves several steps after producing a professional tool or mold in high-grade aluminum alloy, including:

No.	Steps	Details
1	Patterns Makings	Hot wax is poured into the mold patten and allowed to harden, and then adding sprues to the wax model to create a tree-like structure.
2	Shell Building	Coating the wax pattern with a layer of fire-resistant paint, and then to be sprinkled with sand, so after a period of hardening, the surface will form a layer of fire-resistant thin shell.
3	Dewaxing	Removing the wax, the shell is placed into an oven, melting the wax so that it can run out of the shell.
4	Pouring	Pouring the molten stainless steel into the shell, and waiting for solidification under room temperature.
5	Post treatment	After cooling, knock the shell and cut the sprue gate by grinding machinery to achieve net shape impeller castings. Then shot blasting to move mill scales to assure the smooth casting surface.
6	Machining	CNC Machining

✅ High dimensional accuracy and smooth surface finish, minimising machining work

✅ Forms integrated complex flow channels, flange connections and mounting bosses in one casting

✅ Wide stainless steel material options: CF8, CF8M, 304, 316L, 2205 duplex stainless steel

✅ Excellent corrosion resistance, pressure resistance and leak-proof performance

✅ Consistent casting quality, suitable for small and medium custom batches

✅ Reduces material waste compared with forging or sand casting

⚠️ Higher production cost than sand casting for large, low-pressure valve housings

⚠️ Not economical for oversized valve bodies

⚠️ Strict process control is required to avoid shrinkage, inclusions and pinhole defects

Our investment cast stainless steel ball valve bodies are widely supplied for chemical pipelines, water treatment systems, seawater desalination, marine equipment, oil and gas pipelines, food sanitary systems and industrial fluid control pipelines. They can withstand corrosive media, high pressure and continuous cyclic operation.

Baoding Guokun Castings specialises in custom investment casting stainless steel ball valve bodies. We produce valve castings strictly per your drawings or samples. We offer one-stop services including CNC machining, pressure testing, polishing, heat treatment and non-destructive testing (NDT). Every valve body passes strict dimensional, material and defect inspection. We support flexible batch sizes, stable lead times and competitive pricing for valve OEM manufacturers.

Send us your technical drawing for a quotation.