The project report includes Present Market Position and Expected Future Demand, Market Size, Statistics, Trends, SWOT Analysis and Forecasts. Report provides a comprehensive analysis from industry covering detailed reporting and evaluates the position of the industry by providing insights to the SWOT analysis of the industry.
Jewellery casting is an art form that has been in existence for thousands of years. Since the time that man attained the ability to melt metal, artisans have been pouring molten gold into cavities shaped in stone, plaster, sand, and cuttlefish bone. The solidified castings were then pried, or broken free from the encasements in which they were poured by primitive craftsman who then tooled them into items of adornment.
With the advent of high frequency melting and a host of other technologies, jewelry casting is more dynamic than ever. Most jewelry casting is done through the lost wax process, whereby models created through wax carving, growing, or printing are encased in a plaster- like medium known as investment. The investment is heated to extreme temperatures to incinerate the material, creating an impression of the desired form. The intricate cavity is then filled by molten precious metal.
Gold casting and platinum casting procedures differ greatly. Platinum melts at such extreme temperatures that specialized skills, equipment and plaster investments are needed. Since gold casting encompasses a wide range of karats and colors, the alloy combinations dictate that each has temperature cycles and processes that are unique to the metal.
Burn Out Cycle
Wax models or resin type materials are connected to one another on a sprue to form a tree-like configuration. The alignment of the models is arranged to allow gold or platinum to flow through the “tree” with minimum turbulence or resistance. The “tree” is then suspended inside a metal flask and filled with plaster slurry. Once filled, air bubbles and pockets are removed from the slurry by “debubblizing” the flask inside a bell jar with negative atmosphere.
After hardening and curing, flasks containing invested models are placed in specialized ovens, where the wax is incinerated at temperatures as high as 1600° F for 12-16 hours. A properly burned out flask will have no remaining residue of wax or resin, leaving behind a hollow impression left by the tree and sculptures that were burned from it.
Centrifugal Jewelry Casting
Centrifugal jewelry casting uses the force of a centrifuge to create the inertia necessary to throw gold into the hollow cavity left behind. After burn out, the flask is placed in a cradle on a swing arm in direct alignment with a crucible in which gold or platinum will be melted. Depending on the equipment and user preference, the crucible will be heated by high frequency, induction, or a torch to melt the metal, while the arm is in a cocked position. When the precious metal is at critical temperature, the centrifuge is released and metal is slung from the crucible at high velocity, filling the flask before it spins to rest.
Vacuum Casting Jewelry
The principal behind vacuum casting is very similar to that of centrifugal casting. Once again, molten gold has to be sent with enough thrust into a flask to enable it to funnel through detailed cavities before cooling. The equipment used for vacuum casting requires the flask be loaded in a sleeve within a chamber to enable a forcible vacuum to inhale molten metal into the investment as it is being poured or released.
Precious Metal Castings
Once the flasks are filled it is necessary to remove the precious metal castings. The hollow impression in plaster, filled with glowing red platinum or gold castings, is lifted from the casting equipment with tongs. Depending on color, carat, or metal used, they are quenched in water or left to cool. When the flasks are cooled, the investment form is destroyed while the remaining plaster is chipped away, leaving behind a tree containing models as branches. The models are then cut free from the sprue and forwarded to jewelers who will execute jewelry polishing, jewelry fabrication, and stone setting to transform the casting into fine jewelry.
Gold Jewellery Casting is having great demand and also having a bright future scope. There is a good export potential of these products. Jewellery is broadly defined as “ornament for the body”; it is ornament which can be worn and while this definition is frequently challenged and stretched by what are often referred to as “art jewellers” or “contemporary jewellers”, the majority of jewellery can be described as being wearable ornaments, often made from high-value materials such as precious metals and gemstones.
The Gems and Jewellery industry in India, like other MSME industries, is a highly fragmented industry. This characteristic of the Gems & Jewellery industry leads to a high share of the unorganized sector as compared to the organized sector. The components of jewellery include not only traditional gold but also a variety of diamond and platinum. The industry also trades in varieties of precious and semi-precious stones.
Gems and Jewellery form an important part of India’s rich culture. This culture is the primary reason for a flourishing Gems and Jewellery industry in India. The numbers also support this statement. India is the largest consumer of gold, with over 20% share of the total gold consumed in the world. The overall size of the industry is Rs. 12,400 crore. Its total exports add up to Rs. 78,100 crore annually. This comprises 4% of the global Gems and Jewellery market. India is also the largest diamond cutting and polishing centre in the world. On the domestic front the sales figure equals to Rs 73,500 crore.
There are lot of advantages that India offers to the Gems and Jewellery market. India is the fastest growing branded jewellery market in the world. It is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 40%. India also has a vast pool of highly skilled labour that is available at a low cost. Many design centres and training institutes have also blossomed. India holds a good reputation in the global market for being a top class manufacturer of jewellery. The technological environment for the industry is also advanced and comparable to the best in the world.
A huge potential still remains to be harvested. To facilitate this government has allowed 100% FDI (through the automatic route), proposed Gems & Jewellery parks and supported the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council in organizing the IIJS Signature, which is the largest jewellery show in Asia.
Going forward the branded jewellery market is expected to grow to Rs. 10,100 crore by 2010. Exports are expected to grow from Rs. 78,100 crore in 2006 to over Rs. 1.2 lakh crore by 2012. A bright future awaits the Gems & Jewellery industry with large potential still untapped.
India is the largest fabricator of gold for jewellery with more than 90% of this gold acquired for making jewellery Gold is valued in India for savings and investment purpose. It is the second preferred investment after bank deposits. This makes India the world’s largest consumer of gold in jewellery. Gold circulates within the system and roughly 30% of gold jewellery is made from recycled pieces. In India gold jewellery plays a dual role of beautifying as well as an asset. Here gold ornaments are made for every part of the body. The range of jewellery varies from religious to purely aesthetic one.
Jewellery as investment and identity maker is evident from the plethora of ornaments worn by people. The settings of precious gems and stones in rings, pendants, necklaces and bracelets gained prominence due to the belief that these stones are associated with certain powers. This shows the importance of gold jewellery in Indian society.
The Indian jewellery market is large and the production of gold jewellery takes place in all parts of India. It is worth over $10 billion a year, but it is largely fragmented and is not branded. Branded jewellery accounts for less than 2% by value. The rest of the market is in the hands of about 300,000 unorganised jewellers. The jewellery segment as opposed to the diamond segment is directed more towards the domestic market of India. It has lot of structural differences with the diamond segment. The jewellery retailers are generally present in all cities and they control the industry. The jewellery is manufactured in their units or it is outsourced from a lot of small units attached to them. At the distribution end, small and unbranded retailers predominate, with only a handful of branded retailers. In the middle, there are thousands of small traders whose trading relations are very private and largely invisible to the public, tending to hide information on procurement and sales destinations from their competitors. The jewellery exports instead, are more organized, have larger units and try to carry out almost all stages of production in-house to ensure better quality control.
Jewellery casting investment powder is a well organised industry to cater jewellery manufacture for jewellery casting which is important lucrative business to produce precision jewellery.
Investment casting is metal csting processes which employ an expandable pattern and one piece non metallic mold and elimate the parting line and reduce the machining cost.
All metalls manely ferrous and non ferrous can be casted by this process and is most suitable for expensive hard and high strength metals and alloys which are difficult to machine.
The numbers of unit engage in this field are negligible. Hence in view of the obove there is an immense scope for setting up new units in the small scale sector.
