I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the casting of hollow ingots such as for use in the production of large diameter casings or pipes. More particularly, the disclosed invention relates to a method and apparatus for the semi-continuous casting of metallic hollow ingots and products resulting therefrom.
II. Background of the Related Art
Conventionally, the production of large diameter casings or pipes or rolled rings typically required the initial manufacture of a large diameter ingot followed by forging to produce a smaller diameter billet. The billet is then pierced to create a tubular preform and the tubular perform is then extruded to form the casing or pipe or rolled to form a ring. However, if it were possible to directly cast the tubular preform, significant downstream processing time and expense could be avoided.
Several attempts have been made to cast high-quality, large diameter hollow ingots. One approach involves inserting a water-cooled stationary mandrel into a molten pool. Once a sufficient amount of molten metal solidified onto the surface of the mandrel, the mandrel was withdrawn from the pool. After the solidified ingot was removed from the mandrel, the mandrel itself could be reintroduced into the molten pool and the process repeated.
Another attempt involves casting molten metal into a mold comprising a stationary core encapsulated by a crucible to form an annular space into which molten metal may be poured and allowed to solidify as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,124 to Aso et al. (hereinafter “Aso”). In some embodiments, the interior of the core in Aso is cooled by forced induction, thereby providing control over the cooling rate at the interior wall of the cast hollow ingot.
Still another attempt involves adding a fixed amount of molten metal to a casting vessel. The vessel is then rotated and centrifugal forces drive the metal to the outer walls of the vessel. As the metal solidifies, a layer of the desired metal forms on the walls of the vessel, thereby producing a hollow ingot.
In yet another attempt, molten metal was introduced into an annular space formed by a stationary outer mold and stationary mandrel to facilitate continuous casting in a horizontal manner, as described in more detail is U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,054 to Henders.
However, all of the aforementioned attempts suffer from a number of problems including, but not limited to: the production of out-of-center internal holes, frequent breakouts at the inner mold surface, inconsistent dimensions, long cooling times, and slow casting rates.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a more cost-effective technique for producing hollow ingots which is both sufficiently controllable and repeatable to be utilized as a commercial manufacturing process.
In view of the above-described problems, needs, and goals, the present invention provides techniques for semi-continuous casting of hollow ingots.
In one embodiment a method for semi-continuous casting of metallic hollow ingots is provided. The method includes providing a mold comprising a mold center having an inner pipe and an outer pipe arranged to form an annular space for a cooling media and an outer mold, circulating a cooling media in the annular space, feeding source material into the mold cavity formed between the mold center and outer mold, melting the source material, moving the mold center progressively downward relative to the outer mold, and solidifying the source material to form a metallic hollow ingot.
In some embodiments the mold center is moved progressively downward using a puller. Further, the cooling media can be provided at substantially the base of the mold, and the cooling media can flow up through the inner pipe and down through the annular space. The cooling media can be water, but is not so limited. The mold center can be locked in place using a puller.
In some embodiments the source material is melted using one or more electron beam guns. In alternative embodiments the source material may be melted using electroslag remelting, plasma arc melting, or by using a plasma torch. The source material is preferably a metallic material which includes, but is not limited to titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, nickel, and alloys thereof. The source material can be fed at substantially the top of the mold.
In alternate embodiments the outer pipe can be constructed of steel, copper, or a ceramic material. The outer pipe can remain with the ingot after casting until further processing. The method can further include providing a receiver which holds the mold center to prevent lateral movement of the mold center during casting.
In another embodiment an apparatus for semi-continuous casting of hollow ingots is provided. The apparatus includes a mold center having an inner pipe and an outer pipe arranged to form an annular space for a cooling media, an outer mold, and a puller for moving the mold center downward.
In some embodiments, the outer pipe is consumable and can remain with the cast hollow ingot until further processing. The puller can have a hole arranged to receive the mold center. The puller can lock the mold center in place. The apparatus can further include one or more electron beam guns, an electroslag remelting apparatus, a plasma arc apparatus, or one or more plasma torches. The apparatus can further include a receiver located above the mold center and arranged to prevent lateral movement of the mold center during casting.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a metallic hollow ingot product. The metallic hollow ingot product comprises a metallic hollow ingot and a pipe intimately connected to the metallic hollow ingot at the inner surface of the metallic hollow ingot. The metallic hollow ingot can be a metallic material such as titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, nickel, and alloys thereof. The pipe can be steel, copper, or a ceramic, but is not so limited.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated and constitute part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed invention and serve to explain the principles of the disclosed invention.
Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals and characters, unless otherwise stated, are used to denote like features, elements, components or portions of the illustrated embodiments. Moreover, while the disclosed invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures, it is done so in connection with the illustrative embodiments.
The present invention provides apparatus and methods for the semi-continuous casting of hollow ingots that increases the casting rate and decreases the cost and time for downstream processing. The disclosed apparatus and method allow for the repeatability of results such that hollow ingots produced in accordance with the disclosed invention achieve consistent dimensions and desired surface quality.
For the purpose of illustration, an exemplary embodiment of the outer pipe 200 of the mold center is shown in
The outer pipe 200 can be made of any suitable material which is capable of withstanding the harsh conditions and high temperatures associated with the molten material, assuming adequate cooling. Further and more importantly, the outer pipe 200 must be capable of withstanding the pressure of contracting molten metal material, as radial pressures on the mold center can be about 1 to 2 ksi. Therefore, the material used for the mold center preferably has a minimum tensile yield strength of 30 ksi, a minimum tensile ultimate strength of 48 ksi, and a minimum thermal conductivity of 25 BTU/hr-ft-° F. The material should also be relatively easy to machine. Preferably, the outer pipe is made of steel, copper, other metallics, ceramics, or any other suitable materials. Additionally, a metallic material with a ceramic coating can be used. Exemplary coatings include zirconia, silica, yttrium oxide, and other suitable ceramic materials. In a preferred embodiment, the outer pipe is consumable and will remain with the resulting hollow ingot for further processing. Accordingly, the outer pipe should be made of an inexpensive and readily available material, which is still capable of withstanding the pressure of contracting molten material. An example of a suitable material is heavy duty pipe such as schedule 80 steel pipe.
As shown in
For the purpose of illustration, and not limitation, an exemplary embodiment of the inner pipe 300 is provided in
The inner pipe 300 can be made of any suitable material. For example, the inner pipe 300 can be made of steel, copper, other metallics, ceramics, or other suitable materials. In the exemplary embodiment where the outer pipe 200 (from
As further shown in
In practice, inner pipe 300 (from
For the purpose of illustration, and not limitation, an exemplary plate 600 is shown in
Returning now to
The cooling medium should be selected to provide suitable cooling of the outer pipe 200 (from
Returning now to
Returning now to
Returning now to
For the purpose of illustration and not limitation, and as shown in
Returning now to
In some embodiments, a receiver 830, as shown in
The method can further include cooling the ingot in the furnace 860 either under vacuum or at atmospheric pressures, depending on the material constituting the ingot. Resulting ingots prepared in accordance with the present invention are significantly cooler after the melt than standard ingots of the same diameter upon removal from the furnace. Thus, one advantage of the disclosed invention is a significant reduction in the time required to cool the ingot after melting. The reduction in cooling time is due in part to the outer pipe 200 of the mold center 810 being intimately connected to the cast material. In addition, the material is cooled from both the mold center 810 and the outer mold 820. Cooling times will depend on the desired diameter of the hollow ingot, and can be conservatively approximated using the following empirical formula:
t
cooling
=A
x-sect(1/Rcast)Lingotρkakb
where tcooling is the required cooling time (hr), Ax-sect is the cross sectional area (in2) of the hollow ingot, Rcast is the casting rate (lb/hr), Lingot is the length of the cast hollow ingot (in), ρ is the material density (lb/in3), ka is a correction factor which equals 0.52, and kb is a length correction factor. Values for kb may be obtained from
In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides an apparatus for semi-continuous casting of a hollow ingot. The apparatus includes a mold center 810 (from
The inner 300 and outer 200 pipe can have any of the properties mentioned previously herein. For example, and as described above in more detail, in some embodiments, the outer pipe 200 is consumable and can remain with the ingot until further processing. The puller 840 can include a hole arranged to receive the mold center 810, and the puller 840 can lock the mold center 810 in place. The apparatus can include one or more electron beam guns 850. In alternate embodiments the source material can be heated by electroslag remelting, plasma arc processes, or using a plasma torch. In a preferred embodiment, the source material is added at the top of the mold cavity 800 near the location where it is heated as shown, for example, by the thick black arrow provided in
In another exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a metallic hollow ingot product. The metallic hollow ingot product includes a metallic hollow ingot and a pipe intimately connected to the metallic hollow ingot at the inner surface of the metallic hollow ingot.
The hollow ingot and pipe can have any of the properties mentioned previously herein. For example, the pipe can made of steel, copper, other metallics, ceramics, or other suitable materials. The hollow ingot can be produced from materials selected from the group consisting of titanium, zirconium, niobium, tantalum, hafnium, nickel, other reactive metals, and alloys thereof. In a preferred embodiment the hollow ingot is cast using a metal or metallic material and is therefore a hollow metallic ingot.
The disclosed invention is suitable for preparing samples of a wide variety of sizes. For purpose of illustration, and without limitation, example sizes of hollow ingots produced from a metallic material are provided in the table below:
Process parameters that can be varied include the type of source material, the rate at which source material is supplied, the amount of heat applied through the heating source, the cooling rate arising from supplying cooling medium to the central core and outer casting mold, the rate at which the central core is pulled downwards, as well as the overall dimensions of the mold itself.
A titanium alloy was formulated to produce a molten metal material with modifications to produce an Extra Low Interstitials (“ELI”) material for increased toughness. A target casting rate of between 1000 and 3000 lb/hr was used.
The ingot was melted using electronic beam guns. Observation through a viewport glass present on the furnace clearly indicated that the entire liquid surface that was visible was fully molten.
No leaks developed and no weld failure occurred during the melt. The mold center cooling circuit reached 90° F. maximum and averaged about 85° F.
The top surface of the ingot was fairly flat and uniform. In general, the surface condition was fairly reasonable.
Sample slices were cut from the ingot. The cross sections showed a small diametrical change of the mold center outer shell.
While the present invention is described herein in terms of certain preferred embodiments and examples, those skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and improvements may be made to the invention without departing from the scope thereof. Thus, it is intended that the present invention include modifications and variations that are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Moreover, although individual features of one embodiment of the invention may be discussed herein or shown in the drawings of one embodiment and not in other embodiments, it should be apparent that individual features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment or features from a plurality of embodiments.
In addition to the specific embodiments claimed below, the invention is also directed to other embodiments having any other possible combination of the dependent features claimed below and those disclosed above. As such, the particular features presented in the dependent claims and disclosed above can be combined with each other in other manners within the scope of the invention such that the invention should be recognized as also specifically directed to other embodiments having any other possible combinations. Thus, the foregoing description of specific embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to those embodiments disclosed.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described in this specification. Rather, the scope of the present invention is defined by the claims which follow. It should further be understood that the above description is only representative of illustrative examples of embodiments. For the reader's convenience, the above description has focused on a representative sample of possible embodiments, a sample that teaches the principles of the present invention. Other embodiments may result from a different combination of portions of different embodiments.
The description has not attempted to exhaustively enumerate all possible variations. The alternate embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portion of the invention, and may result from a different combination of described portions, or that other undescribed alternate embodiments may be available for a portion, is not to be considered a disclaimer of those alternate embodiments. It will be appreciated that many of those undescribed embodiments are within the literal scope of the following claims, and others are equivalent. Furthermore, all references, publications, U.S. patents, and U.S. patent application Publications cited throughout this specification are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth in this specification.
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/730,970, filed Mar. 24, 2010, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Semi-Continuous Casting of Hollow Ingots and Products Resulting Therefrom” (now allowed), which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/164,008, filed on Mar. 27, 2009, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61164008 | Mar 2009 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12730970 | Mar 2010 | US |
Child | 13299942 | US |