Melting Aluminum And Its Alloys

Manufacture of castings is essentially a matter of heat transfer in one or another form. Heat is first added to the cold, solid metal (scrap or ingot) for melting and for superheating the molten metal until it is fluid enough to pour into a mold. Various types of furnaces are used for this purpose e.g. crucible furnace, electrical furnaces, cupola furnace etc. Heat is then extracted from the metal by mold to re-form it into a solid, cold body of desirable size and shape.

The furnace which is most commonly used for melting non-ferrous metals and alloys is crucible furnace.

Equipment:

1. Pit Furnace
2. Crucible

Chemicals / Materials:

Aluminum scrap, Flux and degasser

Procedure:

• Take required amount of aluminum scrap and put it into the pit furnace crucible.
• Switch on the blower and turn on the gas valve.
• Then, put on the fire so that metal in the crucible can be melted.
• Continue supplying heat to the metal until it is completely liquefied and fluid enough to pour into a mold.