The specific steps of cold hearth furnace smelting technology usually include the following links:
1. Prepare raw materials
• Select raw materials: Use titanium blocks or titanium alloy blocks as smelting raw materials to ensure that their quality meets the standards.
• Lay raw material layer: Evenly lay block materials on the bottom of the cold bed to form a raw material layer. The thickness and distribution of this layer are crucial to the subsequent smelting process.
2. Set smelting conditions
• Inert gas protection: During the smelting process, an inert gas (such as argon) is usually filled into the furnace to prevent metal oxidation.
• Adjust the electron beam: The power and focus of the electron beam are adjusted through the electron gun to ensure that the temperature of the melting area reaches the required level.
3. Melting process
• Start the electron beam: The electron gun emits a high-energy electron beam to bombard the raw material layer, causing it to heat up rapidly and begin to melt. This process can produce a high temperature of more than 3000℃.
• Form a molten pool: In the cold bed, a molten pool is first formed on the inner and surface layers of the metal charge, and the surrounding solid titanium remains unmelted.
4. Refining and Purification
• Removing impurities: As smelting progresses, low-density inclusions will float to the surface of the molten pool, while high-density impurities will settle to the bottom, thus achieving effective separation.
• Maintaining the depth of liquid metal: Ensure that the depth of liquid titanium remains within a certain range to avoid damage to the furnace wall by arc or plasma.
5. Casting and Cooling
• Casting: When smelting is completed, the molten metal flows into the mold for solidification. The mold is usually a water-cooled crystallizer to quickly reduce the metal temperature.
• Cooling and removing the ingot: After the ingot cools to room temperature, it is removed from the cooling bed and subsequently processed and inspected.
6. Post-processing
• Surface treatment: Cutting, grinding and other treatments are performed on the surface of the ingot to remove surface defects.
• Quality inspection: The final product is subjected to composition analysis and performance testing to ensure that it meets technical standards.
Through the above steps, the cold bed furnace smelting technology can effectively improve the purity and performance of titanium alloys to meet the needs of high-end applications.