• Low pressure permanent mold casting is done in steel molds, using low pressure gas to force the molten metal into the cavity. These two process features drive two design factors --

--  The gas pressure feeds molten metal into the mold during the cooling/solidification step, eliminating the need for the risers (metal reservoirs) used in gravity feed casting.

--  The casting cools and solidifies rapidly because of the high thermal conductivity of the steel mold.

• The metal flows up into the mold through the in-gate. The positioning of the in-gate is important to get rapid and uniform metal fill into the die. The in-gate should be positioned to feed into the heavier sections of the component and also minimize the length of the longest run path.