Claims
- 1. An apparatus for continuously casting a filament within a region of preselected vacuum and passing the filament to an ambient region of higher pressure, comprising:
- (a) a rotating casting wheel having an annular, peripheral quench surface;
- (b) a guide housing enclosing said casting wheel to separate said wheel from said ambient region and to delimit a guide region which is adapted to guide and pass said filament therethrough to a guide housing exit region communicating into said ambient region;
- (c) an extrusion housing delimiting an extrusion chamber which communicates with said guide housing and has at least a portion of said quench surface disposed therein;
- (d) an extrusion means located in said extrusion chamber for extruding molten metal onto said quench surface to form said filament;
- (e) extrusion vacuum means for providing a preselected vacuum in said extrusion chamber;
- (f) fluid jet means disposed in said guide housing for reducing the pressure therein and directing said filament through said guide region;
- (g) passivator means for passivating said quench surface to inhibit welding of said filament to said quench surface; and
- (h) airlock means located at said guide housing exit region for substantially preserving said vacuum in said extrusion chamber while continuously passing said filament to said ambient region.
- 2. An apparatus as recited in claim l, wherein said airlock means comprises:
- (a) an exit housing which delimits an exit passage communicating between said guide housing exit region and said ambient region;
- (b) at least one pair of counter-rotating rollers disposed in said exit passage, said rollers being adapted to pass said filament through the nip therebetween to provide a contact type seal aganst said filament and to direct said filament to said ambient region; and
- (c) actuator means for selectively closing said rollers against said filament to produce said seal.
- 3. An apparatus as recited in claim 2, wherein a plurality of said counter-rotating roller pairs are serially located along said exit passage and delimit an intermediate passage region between successive roller pairs.
- 4. An apparatus as recited in claim 3, further comprising exit vacuum means for providing a preselected vacuum levels within said intermediate regions.
- 5. A method for continuously casting a metal filament within a region of preselected vacuum, comprising the steps of:
- (a) extruding molten alloy onto a moving quench surface of a rotating casting wheel located within said vacuum region to cast said filament;
- (b) passivating said quench surface to inhibit adherence of said filament thereto;
- (c) directing said filament with fluid jet means through a guide region and an exit passage which communicates with an ambient region of higher pressure; and
- (d) substantially preserving the preselected vacuum in said vacuum region with airlock means as said filament is continuously passed to said ambient region.
- 6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein said preserving step (d) further comprises the steps of:
- (e) passing said filament through the nip of at least one pair of counter-rotating rollers located in said exit passage which are adapted to provide a contact type seal against said filament and direct said filament to said ambient region; and
- (f) selectively closing said rollers against said filament to produce said seal.
- 7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein said step (e) further comprises the step of passing said filament through the nips of a plurality of counter-rotating roller pairs which are located in series along said exit passage and delimit an intermediate passage region between successive roller pairs.
- 8. A method as recited in claim 7, further comprising the step of providing a preselected vacuum level within said intermediate passage regions.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 458,250, filed Jan. 17, 1983, abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
458250 |
Jan 1983 |
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