Cobalt-Based Alloy Castings

Cobalt is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal that is naturally protected against oxidization (rust) by a passivating oxide film. Like nickel, cobalt can only be found in nature in chemically combined forms (natural alloys); pure cobalt can be produced via reductive smelting.

Cobalt alloys are corrosion-resistant, heat-resistant, and wear-resistant. This makes cobalt-based alloy castings useful in numerous industries, including medical, aerospace, automotive, military, and other applications where oxidization is problematic and high strength is critical. In the medical industry, for example, cobalt-based investment castings are used to create orthopedic implants that do not wear down over time. Cobalt alloys are used in high friction bearing environments for their strength and lubricity (or anti-galling quality). In high-temperature environments, such as turbocharger turbines and jet aircraft turbines, cobalt alloys exhibit good creep resistance, as well as resistance to thermal fatigue.

Cobalt-Based Investment Castings

There are a wide variety of cobalt alloys, each offering unique features and benefits. The most commonly cast air-melted cobalt alloys are:

Cobalt Alloy 6 – AMS 5387

• Most commonly used; performs well in general wear situations
• High resistance to chemical deprivation in various temperature ranges
• Maintains hardness up to 900°F
• Holds up well to impact and resistant to surface pitting

Cobalt Alloy 3

• High carbon content makes it resistant to abrasion and erosion

Cobalt Alloy 21 – AMS 5385

• Lower ductility
• Excellent resistance to thermal and mechanical shock

Cobalt Alloy 31 – AMS 5382

• High tensile and creep properties
• Highly resistant to wear in metal-on-metal applications
• Functions well at high temperatures

If you don’t see a match between your needs and what we have listed here, please visit our investment casting alloys page for more material options. Please note that we have the ability to pour any “air melted” cobalt alloy for both low and high volume quanities. Contact us to discuss your material requirements.

The Industry’s Best Cobalt Alloy Casting Manufacturer

Aero Metals produces cobalt-based investment castings for customers in a variety of industries where part wear, harsh working conditions, high maintenance costs, and costly downtime can be problematic for the end user. With hundreds of years of combined experience in investment casting, our team has the skills and the know-how to deliver cast parts with complex geometries and tight dimensional tolerances.

An in-house tool and die shop helps us manufacture parts that match our customers’ design specifications. Aero Metals consistently produce parts with levels of perpendicularity, flatness, and parallelism that other investment casting companies can’t achieve.

In-house machining capabilities enable us to deliver finished, complete-to-print parts that save our customers time, money, and headaches. Rigorous quality-control testing and available third-party non-destructive testing ensures that every cobalt-based alloy casting we produce meets or exceeds our own high quality standards and our customers’ expectations.

Our expertise in manufacturing complex, cobalt-based investment castings results in products that last longer, perform better, and are more cost effective for our customers, giving them a true competitive advantage.

Precision Investment Casting Experience and Expertise

With our experience, expertise, and precision casting capabilities, we are the casting experts that other casting experts trust.

Request a quote on cobalt-based alloy castings, or contact Aero Metals to find out what we can do for your project.