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Foundry Virtual Tour – Melting and Pouring

December 1, 2017 Comments Off on Foundry Virtual Tour – Melting and Pouring Foundry Tour, News

In this article, we look at the next step in the White Industries’ production process; melting and pouring. At the time of writing, White Industries produces 106 different alloys, consisting of various grades including:

STEELS IRONS STAINLESS STEELS NONFERROUS
Plain Carbon Grey Austenitic

Aluminiums
Low Alloy Ductile Super Austenitic Bronzes
High Alloy Ni- Resist Martensitic Brasses
Ni-Hard Ferritic Gunmetals
High Chrome Duplex
Super Duplex

 

Given the wide range of materials produced, White Industries employs strict controls to ensure scrap is identified and cross-contamination doesn’t occur. When a melt is programmed for production, a charge is calculated using known steel scrap, runners and risers from previous melts, and ferroalloys. All additions are weighed to ensure the melt analysis is in specification.

Melting is conducted in one of the five electric induction furnaces, with the scrap steel and returns added by electromagnet. The furnaces capacities are 1 x 150kg, 1 x 750kg, 2 x 2000kg and 1 x 3000kg. Once melting is complete, a sample is taken and analysed on one of the atomic emission spectrometers. A chemical analysis is compared against the specification and adjusted if necessary with ferroalloys.
The temperature of the metal is measured using immersion thermocouples and adjusted to suit the castings being poured. The metal is tapped from the furnace into a pouring ladle, where the final sample is taken to confirm chemical analysis before pouring. The temperature is rechecked to ensure it is suitable to pour the moulds. Test bars are poured as required, to provide mechanical properties.
In the next newsletter, we’ll look at Heat Treatment and Finishing.

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