Process for the melting down and remelting of materials for the production of homogeneous metal alloys

Abstract

In the case of a process for the production of homogeneous mixtures of alloys, in particular of intermetallic phases of at least two alloy components, by the melting of raw materials in an inductively heated cold wall furnace the following processing steps are applied: a) in a first processing step, the alloy components are melted into blocks with predetermined alloy composition according to the amount, and b) in a subsequent processing step, at least one of the blocks from the first processing step is melted down in an inductively heated cold wall furnace arrangement ( 60 ) where the melt is stirred by the electromagnetic field energy fed into the melt in such a manner that its alloy components are mixed thoroughly in such a manner that the melt ( 55 ) obtains a homogeneous material composition over its entire volume. Optionally, the first processing step can be carried out in an inductively heated cold wall furnace arrangement which is charged with chargeable raw materials, or the first processing step can be carried out by a vacuum arc remelting process in a cold wall furnace arrangement which is charged with preformed consumable electrodes.

1 . Process for the production of homogeneous mixtures of alloys, in particular of intermetallic phases of at least two alloy components, by the melting of raw materials in an inductively heated cold wall furnace, characterized by the following processing steps: 
 a) in a first processing step the alloy components are melted into blocks ( 30 ,  44 ) with predetermined alloy composition according to the amount, and    b) in a subsequent processing step at least one of the blocks ( 30 ,  44 ) from the first processing step is melted down in an inductively heated cold wall furnace arrangement ( 60 ) where the melt is stirred by the electromagnetic field energy fed into the melt in such a manner that its alloy components are so thoroughly mixed that the melt ( 55 ) contains a homogeneous material composition over its entire volume.    
     
     
         2 . Process according to  claim 1 , characterized by the fact that the first processing step is carried out in an inductively heated cold wall furnace arrangement ( 2 ) which is charged with chargeable raw materials.  
     
     
         3 . Process according to  claim 1 , characterized by the fact that the first processing step is carried out by a vacuum arc remelting process in a cold wall furnace arrangement which is charged with preformed consumable electrodes ( 42 ,  44 ).  
     
     
         4 . Process according to  claim 1 , characterized by the fact that the entire volume of the blocks ( 30 ,  44 ) used for the remelting process provided in the inductively heated cold wall furnace ( 60 ) is chosen in such manner that its entire volume corresponds to the filling volume of the inductively heated cold wall furnace ( 60 ).  
     
     
         5 . Process according to  claim 1 , characterized by the following processing steps: 
 a) at least one part of the alloy components is pressed into chargeable material ( 9 ) with predetermined alloy composition,    b) the material ( 9 ) is introduced via a lock chamber ( 11 ) into a melting pool ( 32 ) which is encircled by coil windings ( 20   a - 20   e ) of an induction coil arrangement ( 7 ),    c) the material ( 9 ) is heated by the supplying of electromagnetic field energy via an alternating field applied to the coil windings ( 20   a - 20   e ) in such a manner that the material ( 9 ) is melted down via the magnetic alternating field running in the melting pool ( 32 ) where the melt is furthermore mixed through by the induced magnetic alternating field in the melt pool ( 32 ), and    d) the melt material hardened below the melt pool ( 32 ) is drawn off as a block ( 30 ) from the cold wall furnace arrangement ( 2 ) via a device ( 6 ) for drawing off blocks located at the lower end of the induction coil arrangement ( 7 ).    
     
     
         6 . Process according to one of the claims  1 - 5  characterized by the fact that the alloy components are chosen from highly reactive materials, in particular from titanium or titanium compounds.  
     
     
         7 . Process according to one of claims  1 - 6  characterized by the fact that the raw material is chosen as lumpy material and/or as powder and/or as granulate.