increased the demand for precision net shape manufacturing and specialized alloys that could not be shaped by traditional methods, or that required too much machining. Industry turned to investment casting. After the war, its use spread to many commercial and industrial applications that used complex metal parts. Applications Investment casting is used in the aerospace and power generation industries to produce turbine blades with complex shapes or cooling systems. Blades produced by investment casting can include single-crystal (SX), directionally solidified (DS), or conventional equiaxed blades. Investment casting is also widely used by firearms manufacturers to fabricate firearm receivers, triggers, hammers, and other precision parts at low cost. Karsten Solheim famously revolutionized golf club design through his company PING by incorporating investment casting for the first time for clubheads. Quickly the process became an industry standard to allow weight distribution around the perimeter of the clubhead. Other industries that use standard investment-cast parts include military, aerospace, medical, jewelry, airline, automotive and golf clubs especially since the start of 3D printing technology. With the increased availability of higher-resolution 3D printers, 3D printing has begun to be used to make much larger sacrificial moulds used in investment casting. Planetary Resources has used the technique to print the mould for a new small satellite, which is then dipped in ceramic to form the investment cast for a titanium space bus with integral propellant tank and embedded cable routing. See also Full-mold casting Lost-foam casting References Notes Bibliography . . . . External links Casting (manufacturing) sl:Precizijsko litje Jewellery making