Metal founding – Means to shape metallic material – Continuous or semicontinuous casting
Patent
1990-10-04
1992-02-25
Lin, Kuang Y.
Metal founding
Means to shape metallic material
Continuous or semicontinuous casting
164335, B22D 1110
Patent
active
050904710
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to continuous casting.
The invention is especially but not exclusively concerned with pressurised upward-feed continuous casting.
The invention relates, in particular, to continuous casting apparatus, and to a method of recovering melt from such apparatus.
In continuous casting, solidified metal is drawn from a die which is continuously fed with melt. The draw can be either vertical or horizontal; and the feed can be either upwards or downwards. These possibilities are already known. Where upwards feed is required, it has hitherto been necessary by means of suction or pressure to induce melt to enter and flow in a nozzle or tube of which a lower end is immersed in the melt and the upper end is connected to feed the die. The melt is held in a crucible. With these known arrangements for upward feed, various disadvantages are experienced. For example, it is virtually impossible to induce all of the melt into the feed tube; and the remaining melt can be recovered from the crucible sometimes only with difficulty subsequent to a casting "run". Moreover, effecting lasting and leak-free connection between the feed tube and the die is difficult. Also, changing a die is not feasible without bringing the entire operation to a relatively low temperature.
An object of the present invention is to provide improvements in continuous casting apparatus and method whereby one or more of the aforesaid disadvantages is/are obviated or mitigated.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided continuous casting apparatus comprising a casing, a crucible within the casing, means for sustaining a raised gas pressure within the casing so that the pressure acts in and around the crucible, and feed duct means for carrying melt from a melt chamber in the crucible to a casting die leading from the casing; characterised in that the crucible has a one-piece body of a refractory material, and the feed duct means extends through the body of the crucible from a relatively lower inlet in the melt chamber to a relatively upper outlet at a feed port formed in the body of the crucible.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of recovering melt from a continuous casting apparatus; wherein the apparatus comprises a crucible having a one-piece body of a refractory material with an integral drain port, and said method comprises the steps of locally cooling the vicinity of the drain port whilst producing melt in the crucible so that a plug solidifies in the drain port, and withdrawing or stopping said cooling so that heat from the melt liquifies said plug.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a crucible comprising a one-piece body of a refractory material, and a melt chamber in said body with a charging opening at an upper end of the chamber; characterised in that the chamber has a melt outlet from a lower end of the chamber, first duct means extends through the body from said melt outlet to a drain port, feeding duct means extends through the body from the first duct means to an upper feed port formed in said body, and the body is recessed in the vicinity of the drain port to receive or accommodate means for effecting localised cooling of said vicinity.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a continuous casting furnace incorporating a crucible in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 of part of the crucible seen in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view on arrow B in FIG. 1 of a lower part of the crucible seen in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional elevation of part of the crucible seen in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is a sectional elevation of a modified crucible, similar to part of FIG. 1.
In the drawings, a continuous casting apparatus has an outer casing indicated generally by reference numeral 10, a crucible 11 within the casing 10 and capable o
REFERENCES:
patent: 3201837 (1965-08-01), Sylvester
patent: 4852631 (1989-08-01), Herbin et al.
LandOfFree
Continuous casting does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Continuous casting, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Continuous casting will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1886853