Metal founding – Process – Shaping liquid metal against a forming surface
Patent
1982-01-08
1984-10-30
Lin, Kuang Y.
Metal founding
Process
Shaping liquid metal against a forming surface
164486, B22D 1908
Patent
active
044795300
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing metallic wire products by direct casting, i.e. a method at which molten metal is caused to solidify directly to a wire-shaped product of substantial length, and a coat of metal is poured or applied on a metal wire. The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the method.
At conventional metal wire manufacturing methods, where the term wire is understood to refer to a product having relatively small cross-sectional area and substantial length, a bath of the metal is cast batchwise to ingots or continuously to strands, which are divided transversely to their longitudinal direction into wire billets. The ingots and, respectively, billets have a cross-sectional area of about 10,000 mm.sup.2 or more and are hot rolled in rolling mills to suitable cross-sectional dimensions, which for steel normally are round with a diameter of 5 to 9 mm. The wire thus produced is subjected to further treatment by being drawn in cold state.
The manufacturing method schematically described above is very expensive and involves material losses. The rolling mill equipment a.o. (among the things) is extensive, because the difference between the cross-sectional area of the starting material, i.e. ingots and, respectively, billets, and the cross-sectional area of the hot-rolled wire is great and requires a great number of passes. The material, besides, must have good machinability, which primarily depends on the analysis of the material and, therefore, implies restrictions from a material point of view.
A satisfactorily operating method of direct wire casting where a relatively small cross-section is cast substantially continuously, therefore, must offer a great number of obvious technical and economic advantages. At present no method exists by which the considerable technical problems involved in such a direct casting process have been solved, and, therefore, no method is applied in commercial production either.
One known tested method of direct casting is the Michelin process, at which a jet of molten metal is pressed out at high pressure through a small aperture, nozzle, whereby under favourable conditions a wire of about 0.2 mm diameter can be formed.
By maintaining a high silicium content in the bath and by surrounding the jet with an oxygen gas atmosphere, according to Michelin an oxide shell is formed which holds the jet together until it has solidified. The method, which so far has been tested only on a laboratory scale, is very difficult to control. It, further, permits production of only very thin wire and requires high silicium contents in the wire material.
Other direct casting methods have been tested, at which primarily a rapidly solidifying structure of the wire is desired. In these cases very small dimensions are desired, and promising results have been obtained on a laboratory scale with alloys having a low liquidus temperature, i.e. temperature of commencing solidification. Due to the small dimensions, however, these methods are without interest from a production aspect for "normal" products and material types.
Methods for the manufacture of steel fibres from a molten bath are known and have been developed close to commercial production. At these methods a wheel is rotated so that a portion of its periphery is immersed in the bath. It was, however, found unfeasible to manufacture in this way a coherent wire with acceptable cross-section.
A further method known is "dip forming", which is used for applying a very pure outer coat of copper on copper wire. It was found possible by this method to "freeze on" a coat on a wire by dipping the wire into a molten bath of the same material as the wire. For technical reasons, however, this method is not adapted for use on steel. The method rather is to be regarded as a method of surface coating.
Conclusively one may say, that in spite of the obvious technical and economic advantages implied in the direct casting of steel wire products, no working method is yet available.
In principle, the simplest method of manufa
REFERENCES:
patent: 2970830 (1961-02-01), Siegfried
patent: 3060055 (1962-10-01), Bixler
patent: 3470939 (1969-10-01), Coad
patent: 3842896 (1974-10-01), Dobo
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