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After the Covid-19 lockdowns I started considering whether I could do casting at temperatures higher than the 1150DegC used for the bronze casting. The candidate metals shown in this spreadshheet

were considered. Initially platinum appeared possible because although the melting temperature was 1768DegC it was cheaper than palladium. However calculations based on the volume of the first potential casting model (a 1.44 cubic cm locket) showed that palladium whilst almost twice the price of platinum for 100g ingots would cost less, because of its lower density. The melting point of 1555DegC was also lower. However the concern is the faster cooling rate of the melt - from the bronze work on the video it can be seen that in the approx 30 seconds to do the pour the temperature of the top of the silicon carbide crucible cooled from 1150degC to a dark red - about 800DegC. This cooling curve is exponential so starting from 1555DegC it would be much quicker, also the mass of the melt would be 20g rather than about 2kg ie 100 times less which will also cause faster cooldown.

This means that the melt will need to be much hotter (say 2000DegC) and the the stop to pour time needs to be less than 10 seconds. Additionally at 2000DegC a platinum/rhodium thermocouple would melt so a laser infrared thermometer gun would be required mounted on a tripod.

The design of the casting system is shown on this page, and the design of the wax model(s) on this page.