SELECTION AND CONTROL OF MELTING PROCESSES

When selecting the melting process (i.e. the furnace equipment) to fulfill the casting
specifications and the production requirements, several factors or characteristic features must be
considered. Among these are the Metal chemistry, the temperature of the melt, the melting
capacity and melting cost.

METAL CHEMISTRY
 To be able to fulfill the requirements concerning material properties and to produce a
sound casting, the molten metal must have the right composition, with a limited content of
metallic and non-metallic contaminations, including gases.

 Depending on the raw material (i.e., the metal fed into the furnace), a refining process or
correction of the composition of the melt might be necessary.

 When a considerable proportion of uncontrolled scrap is used in the raw material,

impurities and contaminants are introduced and the need for a refining process increases.

 Gaseous contaminations in the molten metal can dissolve in greater amounts than the solid
material; consequently, during freezing, gas is precipitated, causing porosity in the casting.

 Another effect of the particular gases nitrogen and hydrogen is that they can reduce the
ductility of the final casting (i.e., they promote brittleness).

 Thus, the final composition of the melt depends on the raw material and all the changes
that occur during and after the melting process.

 The melting procedures can be divided into two categories: (1) melting without refining
and (2) melting with refining.
(1) Melting without refining, the raw material and the minor changes caused by the specific
melting process determine the final composition of the material. However, small corrections to
the compositions can be carried out just before pouring. Examples of the application of this
procedure include the melting of alloys with low melting temperatures, the melting of light
metals, and the vacuum melting of alloys with high melting points.
(2) Melting with refining, melting is followed by a refining phase to obtain the desired
composition; in other words, significant corrections are made to the composition of the material.
For example, in steel the carbon content as well as the content of other elements are changed
during melting either by deoxidation from the atmosphere or by reactions caused by the slag
protecting the melt. The oxygen content in the melt must be adjusted frequently by the addition of
deoxidation materials.
TEMPERATURE OF THE MELT
 To be able to cast complicated shapes, the molten metal must be
maintained at high temperatures.

 If pouring is carried out at too low a temperature, the metal may

start to freeze before the mould is filled, causing misruns and
other defects.

 If pouring is carried out at too high a temperature, the metal may react with the mould
material, causing gaseous inclusions in the casting.

 The pouring or tapping temperature must be chosen so that these problems are avoided.

 To assist in specifying the correct tapping temperature, various fluidity tests have been
developed, for example, the sand-cast fluidity spiral and the suction-tube method. In the
spiral test, the length of the spiral obtained at a given tapping temperature provides an
index of relative fluidity. The maximum tapping temperature obtainable from the furnace
can be decisive for the selection of the melting process.

MELTING CAPACITY AND DELIVERY RATE

 Two factors are of importance here: the rate of the delivery and the mode of delivery.
 In casting large components, the batch melting processes are normally preferred, as it may
take too long a time to accumulate the necessary amount of metal from a continuous-type
furnace. In addition, a large furnace is required to maintain the molten metal at the required
high temperature.

 In the production of small castings, the continuous type of furnace is normally preferred.

MELTING COST
 The balance between capital investment and operating cost is often critical.
 For a high capital investment regarding melting equipment, high tonnage of production or
24 hours of capacity usage are the viable options.
 METALLURGICAL CONTROL OF CUPOLA MELTING
1) Cupola charge must be carefully chosen for uniform quality product.
2) Different raw material possesses different calculations so, during melting the composition
needs to be adjusted and controlled.
3) During melting certain elements may decrease or increase so, these changes have to be
adjusted and during charge calculation an allowance for their loss and gain must be
brought into consideration.
4) Melting losses

a) Carbon
i) Molten iron picks up the carbon when it passes through the incandescent coke forming
the bed
ii) The carbon pick up is high in low carbon cast iron
iii) Pig iron having high percentage of carbon, losses carbon during melting
iv) Oxidation is mainly responsible for carbon loss.
v) Size of coke and height of coke bed are also a factor responsible for carbon pick up.

b) silicon
i) Silicon suffer losses due to oxidation
ii) High silicon pig iron suffers less loss as compare to low silicon pig iron
iii) Silicon content can be adjusted by addition of Ferro silicon

c) Manganese
i) Manganese suffer loss due to oxidation
ii) About 15% of manganese is lost due to oxidation.
iii) Ferromanganese is added as compensation

d) Sulphur
i) Sulphur does not suffer nay loss due to oxidation, rather it is liable to increase due to
sulphur pickup from the coke.
ii) The gain of sulphur is of the order of 0.03 to 0.05 %
iii) Sulphur is usually present in coke to the extent of 0.5 to 1.0%
iv) Pickup of sulphur by iron depends upon,
v) Content of sulphur in coke
vi) Initial content of sulphur in pig iron
vii) Manganese content in cupola charge (since Mn combines with sulphur to forms
manganese sulphide)

e) IRON
i) Iron suffers a loss of about 5% due to oxidation.
 f) PHOSPHORUS
i. There is a very little change in phosphorus content.
ii. The loss of iron slightly increases the phosphorus content because of an increase in
phosphorus concentration.

METALLURGICAL CONTROL OF INDUCTION MELTING

1) The induction furnaces are the ideal tool for melting charge having the
approximately the same composition as that is required.
2) Beside from gas elimination, very little refining is possible because the slag is colder
than the metal and the protective refractory of the furnace is very thin.
3) Slag erosion due to the induction stirring is accelerated and may result in early
failure of furnace walls.

METALLURGICAL CONTROL OF ARC MELTING

1) Acid melting practice is essential for fast melting, non-refining process, because of
the fact that gummy slag is not formed in arc melting and hence the temperature
required to keep slag fluid is provided.

2) By using double slag technique phosphorus and sulphur may be reduced to very low
level. In double slag, a basic high FeO slag is employed to reduce carbon and
phosphorus to desired values., the first slag is then pulled and a basic slag (low FeO)
is substituted to facilitate desulphurization.

DUPLEX AND TRIPLEX PROCESSES

Instead of regarding the various furnaces as isolated melting instruments, the foundry men should
consider them as tool kit designed to assist them in obtaining best operating balance among
chemistry, temperature, delivery rate and cost.
A great many installations have used in cupola as the primary melting instrument, because of low
level of both operating cost and capitalization.
For refining operations, it is often better to limit refining to one furnace and use a second furnace
for holding and super heating.
For refining purposes the direct arc furnace is more flexible because it can easily attain the
desired temperature and composition