Investment casting and permanent mold casting approach repeat production differently. One creates a new refractory mold for each casting cycle; the other repeatedly uses a metal mold. That distinction affects the geometry that can be released, the thermal behavior of the mold and the investment made before production begins.

Investment casting and lost foam casting both use expendable patterns, but they do not remove those patterns in the same way. Treating them as interchangeable because both names include a disappearing material overlooks the mold arrangement and the way the cavity is created during manufacture.