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By D. P. Cook, M. I. Bloch, J. A. Dantzig

"In this article, we describe a combined experimental and computational program to study the filling of automotive wheels during low pressure die casting. Experiments are performed by placing thermocouples into the mold walls of a production caster for the Ford F 113 wheel to measure the temperature profiles in the die during processing, and to infer the filling pattern. Computational models are also developed using a 36° section of the wheel pattern, taken directly from CAD data files. We use these models to simulate the filling and heat transfer processes. Comparison between experimental and computational results are presented, demonstrating the viability of this procedure.IntroductionAutomotive companies are using increasing amounts of aluminum in production vehicles: While the main driving force is improved fuel economy through weight reduction, replacing steel wheels by aluminum also offers the potential for improved vehicle performance by reducing unsprung mass. For these reasons, many new vehicles are now supplied with cast aluminum alloy wheels, and the aftermarket for these wheels continues to grow.The most common production process for these wheels is low pressure die casting. The process is subject to numerous defects, including microporosity, cold shuts, cold folds, misruns and inclusions. Scrap rates at the caster of the order of 10% are not uncommon. Many wheels also have large production runs, into the hundreds of thousands of wheels per year. Thus, the cost savings from even small reductions in scrap rate have the potential to be quite significant.Most of the defects are associated with the filling and solidification processes in the mold. The molds are air cooled, and the placement and sizing of cooling passages is currently as much art as science. The ultimate goal of this project is to improve that situation, by implementing simulation procedures that enable engineering design methods to be used in die and process specification."

Jan 1, 2000

By L. L. Tavlarides, N. V. Deorkar

"Recovery/Recycling of metal ions from industrial process waste streams is a preferred alternative to disposal by conventional techniques. This paper presents methods for preparation of inorganic chemically active adsorbents to be used in fixed bed adsorbers. Methods for immobilization of chelating agents on the inorganic supports are discussed. The prepared adsorbents are characterized to determine coverage density of functional groups, effect of pH on metal ion removal efficiency, regeneration efficiency and uptake capacity. Results from the laboratory scale and bench scale experiments are presented here.IntroductionRemoval of heavy metal ions from processing wastes in various industries is an important problem. Waste streams in electroplating, electronic, catalyst preparation and hydrometallurgical industries contain metal ions such as copper, nickel, chromium, lead, tin, cadmium, silver, gold and platinum. One major concern for the non-ferrous metal industry is secondary recovery of precious metals and cyanide from cyanide leachate from smelter residue and hydrometallurgical waste streams.Recovery methods recently considered include evaporation, electrolyte metal recovery, reverse osmosis (1), adsorption, ion exchange (2,3), membrane separation (4,5) and Solvent extraction. These processes have met with various levels of limited success. The use of liquid ion exchange molecules to selectively extract metal ions for on-site treatment of these waste streams is currently receiving substantial interest (6,7). This interest seems from an awareness of the advances made in the development of commercial extractants for metal ion separation in hydrometallurgical industries (8). However, separation by solvent extraction processes is generally considered to be economical in the range of aqueous metal ion concentrations from 0.01 to 1.0 mol/lit (9). In order to exploit the selectivity of chelating agents, the idea of immobilizing chelating agent into a solid matrix has attracted growing attention in recent years. Many supports such as inorganic oxides, organic polymers, cellulose powder and polyurethane foam can be used for immobilization of chelating agents. Over the last decade, considerable efforts have been directed toward attachment/introduction of chelating agents into a polymer matrix (10,11). Inorganic supports as compared to polymer supports provide high mechanical strength, chemical and thermal stability, and high reaction rates due to open pore structure. On the contrary, organic resins shrink and swell, thus affecting mass transfer (12). Many of the disadvantages of polymer supports can be excluded by the use of inorganic supports. Innovative use of immobilization techniques can produce inorganic chemically active adsorbents with comparable capacity, stability and reaction rates. Consequently, the objective of our program is the development of inorganic chemically active adsorbents to be used in a fixed-bed unit operation as an alternative heavy metal ion recovery process. Methods of preparation of inorganic chemically active adsorbents, (ICAAs) characterization and applications are discussed in this paper. A brief summary of the results from laboratory scale studies and bench scale studies is presented."

Jan 1, 1996

By Staia. Mariana H.

Thermochemical equilibria of the heterogeneous system Ti-N-H-CI-Fe-Cr-Mo-Ni-Mn-C were calculated by using a commercial software based on the minimization of the free energy. Equilibrium calculations were done for temperatures varying between 800" and l 100°C and an initial molar relationship between reactants, a=NJTiCI,, of 0.1 to 2. The deposition process was considered to occur at atmospheric pressure. The activities of the alloying elements of the stainless steel were considered equal to their molar fractions. It was shown that for the conditions studied the substrate is no inert with respect to the gaseous phase. The existence of liquid chlorides was predicted for temperatures between 800" and 850°C and a ratio between 0.3 and 0.9. The most important metallic chlorides which appears to be present from the calculations in appreciable quantities in the gaseous phase are iron dichloride and manganese dichloride. In the low-temperatures zone and for low initial nitrogen contents, it result that the appearance of the liquid chlorides seems that partially inhibits the production of gaseous HCI. The highest deposition process efficiency calculated is obtained at a temperature 2 900°C and a N2/TiCI, ratios 2 0.7.

Jan 1, 1995

By Cynthia Belt

"Energy management is critical to aluminum processing given the high energy requirements of melting and processing aluminum. Energy costs have always been a high percentage of the total production costs within this industry. Energy management at many plants relied on better technology that many times required high capital. As carbon management has grown in importance and project payback becomes more critical, a larger view of a plant's process is required. This paper looks at the energy requirement due to current typical practices in overall product recovery, metal loss, utilization, and technology to understand potential methods of reducing overall energy within a plant and within the aluminum processing industry.IntroductionFor many companies that process aluminum, energy is a major portion of their costs that can surpass the cost oflabor. Aluminum processing can include secondary processing of scrap and prime aluminum into sows and/or molten aluminum or casting aluminum by various methods such as direct chill, continuous casting, low or high pressure casting, mold casting, and extrusions. In the case of this paper, we are considering only plants that include the melting process as a portion of their process. The process of melting aluminum takes energy. In most cases, the aluminum must then be heat treated one or more times. Post processing of the aluminum includes rolling mills used for making sheet, extrusion lines, and machining such as saw cuts, drilling, or surface finishes that all take additional energy.While these high energy costs directly affect the profits of the company, energy management within the metals industry is still not widespread. A co=on misconception is that the solution to high energy costs is high cost capital equipment. While state-of-the-art equipment can certainly improve energy efficiency, it is not the only solution. To obtain a truly energy efficient plant, several directions needs to be addressed through an energy management thought process with a wider scope. Impact on potential savings is possible through: product recovery, metal loss, utilization, and new technologies. An understanding of the potential costs and savings from these means is important. Several of these methods provide low cost approaches to saving energy.The background data used in this paper is not a random sample within aluminum processing but yearly averages from various plants in different aluminum processing industries. As is normal in this industry, the plants have been under different corporate management over the years with different strategies for energy management. This data is not meant to be accurate for the entire industry but to suggest areas for energy efficiency work."

Jan 1, 2012

By Christian Wögerer

For material or process development as well as for quality checking of materials, thermal diffusivity measurement may be the tool of choice in many applications. Especially if diffusivity is measured locally resolved, a lot of information can be read out of such a ?diffusivity image?. This paper explains the method to measure coplanar specimen like plates and lists some interpretations of diffusivity images, like inhomogeneity of sintered materials, structural voids or inclusions. Diffusivity is a material property, describing transportation of heat in solids in spatial and temporal terms. With thermo cameras it is possible, to measure diffusivity of larger areas simultaneously. The result is an area of diffusivity values that may be plotted or displayed like an image. Locations with lower diffusivity values could be caused by the presents of structural differences in the material, by decomposition of the material components or by inclusions of other material like air.

Jan 1, 2009

By Xiaojie Gao, Jingshe Li, Chengsong Liu, Haiyan Tang

In order to clarify the reaction between MnO-SiO2 oxides with low FeO content and Fe-Mn-Si alloy, two diffusion couples were produced by the new method using confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). The interface of the alloy and oxide, content of Mn and Si in the alloy near the interface, size distribution and composition of the particles which precipitated in the alloy were observed and analyzed using the electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). Results show that though the FeO content in the oxides decrease to 1% which is lower than the equilibrium with the molten steel at 1873K, the diffusion of oxygen from oxide to alloy still exists during the heat treatment at 1473K and causes shorter Particle Precipitated Zone (PPZ) and Manganese Depleted Zone (MDZ) normally for the reduction of diffusion flux of oxygen.

Jan 1, 2015

By James C. Sever

The mode of operation of dolomite kilns at a magnesium reduction plant using the Magnatherm process was designed to minimize operation cost and maximize kiln refractory life. Analysis of downstream operation issues shows the quality metric for dolime changed from loss on ignition to specific surface area. This produced a complete change in kiln operation; the net results being major plant productivity increases decrease in operating cost, and increases in both kiln operating costs and reline frequency.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jian Li, Guo Chen, Bingguo Liu, Hongying Xia, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang

"Decomposition of ammonium tetramolybdate to prepare Mo03 using silicon carbide crucible in microwave fields was investigated. The results were analyzed Using TG-DTG and X-ray diffraction. Meanwhile, the effects of heating rat, material thickness, socking time, socking temperature on the structure of preparing Mo03 were studied. TG-DTG curves show that the decomposition process of ammonium tetramolybdate is only one stage, in the temperature range 300-350°C, whose begin to decompose when temperature increases beyond 300°C. The molybdenum trioxide was prepared by thermal decomposition. The quality ofMo03 was not affected under the heating rat is 12°C/min. It was beneficial for decomposition ratio with the lower material thickness, longer soaking time, and higher soaking temperature. XRD curves showed that it is viable method for preparation of Mo03 by decomposition from ammonium tetramolybdate in microwave fields.IntroductionMolybdenum is widely used in national defense, aviation, industrial and agricultural production as rare refractory metal. Molybdenum trioxide is vital raw materials for the process of preparation of molybdenum. The traditional production technology of molybdenum oxide is that ammonium tetramolybdate is calcined in rotary kiln or 4-tube furnace [J,2J. But the longer production time, the higher production cost, the lower furnace thermal efficiency, and bigger the energy consumption, especially the powder is easy to leak, the working environment is poor by using rotary kiln [ 3 l _ The particle of molybdenum oxide is non-uniform by using 4-tube furnace because of the uneven temperature of every tube and the poor exhaust of boat bottom [4l _ However microwave heating is quick and uniformity, it is a meaningful research that the microwave is used in the process of calcining ammonium tetramolybdate."

Jan 1, 2013

By Susanne Pignolet-Brandom

QEM*SEM is an automated scanning electron microscope/computer system that characterizes samples with regard to mineral modal abundances, mineral grain and particle sizes, mineral associations, and particle surface areas. Additional information, based on the classification of particles according to the area percentage of a mineral of interest, can be obtained for samples of particulates. QEM*SEM is capable of analyzing a wide variety of materials although it was originally developed for applications to the minerals industry.

Jan 1, 1988

By Yuanbo Zhang, Yongbin Yang, Guanghui Li, Zhengwei Yu, Yufeng Guo, Tao Jiang, Xiaohui Fan, Youming Hu

"Composite agglomeration process (CAP), as an innovative method for preparing blast furnace burden, was developed and has been put into operation in China. CAP is different from traditional agglomeration processes of iron-bearing materials involving sintering and pelletizing. Compared to the traditional agglomeration processes, CAP is characterized by several strengths such as permission of diverse iron-bearing materials in production, obvious improvement of permeability in the feed bed, decreasing the fuel consumption and remarkably increasing the productivity of sintering machine. Furthermore, the use of the composite agglomerates prepared with CAP is capable of obviating the negative effects caused by the differences in quality of sinter and pellets on the operation of blast furnaces. This paper mainly presents an overview of the principle and applications of CAP.Development Background and Principle of CAPhe traditional agglomeration processes including sintering and pelletizing have been the two predominant methods for preparing ironmaking burden from iron-bearing materials. Sintering is a way for agglomeration by heating the coarser fine ores (general granularity 0~10mm). The mechanical strength of irregular porous sinter is obtained by the solidification of molten phase at high temperature process. It has been shown that the production of high basicity sinter (R=1.8~2.2) is characterized by low energy consumption and high efficiency compared to low basicity sintering. Meantime, the finished high basicity sinter is characterized by good mechanical strength and metallurgical performance. Pelletizing is another way for agglomeration by firing wet green pellets, which are balled from the fine grained iron ores or concentrates. Based on the differences of chemical compositions, the finished pellets can be divided into acidic oxidized pellets, fluxed pellets, magnesium-bearing pellets, and so on. The acidic oxidized pellets are the dominant products of modern pelletizing."

Jan 1, 2012

By I. K. Chopde, M. M. Dhobe, C. L. Gogte

"The quality of machined surface is becoming more and more important to satisfy the increasing demand of component performance and its reliability. While machining any component, it is necessary to satisfy the surface integrity requirements. Heat treatment plays an important role in improving the characteristics of the material.This work investigates the effect of heat treatment on the surface characteristics of AISI D2 tool steel after Wire-Electro Discharge Machining (W-EDM). The test specimens were prepared by hardening and tempering and then machined with Wire-Electro Discharge Machining process. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, surface roughness and micro hardness tests were conducted to study the surface characteristics of the machined surface. After characterization based on microstructures and test results, it is observed that the recast layer droplets are of smaller size with reduced white layer thickness resulting in higher hardness and lower surface roughness.IntroductionWith the development of mechanical industry, the requirement of alloy materials having high hardness, toughness and impact resistance is increasing. At the same time the quality of machined surface is becoming more and more important to satisfy the increasing demands of component performance and reliability. When machining any component, it is necessary to satisfy the surface integrity requirements. Surface integrity has two important parts. The first is surface texture, which governs mainly surface roughness. The second is surface metallurgy, which concerns to the nature of surface layer produced in machining [2]."

Jan 1, 2012

By Andrew B. Suttie

The lead-acid battery recycling industry was seriously affected during the 1980s by increasing environmental protection costs and poor lead prices. The process is now being repeated in the 1990s causing further difficulties, for recyclers. In Europe, many lead-acid battery recycling plants use rotary furnaces. The Darley Dale smelter, redeveloped between 1984-87, uses only rotary furnaces. A review of options for this plant has been completed and 'concluded in favour of further investment to exploit more fully the benefits of rotary furnace technology.

Jan 1, 1995

By W. G. Davenport

Chapter 10 showed that any given smelting task, e.g. production of 65% Cu matte, 1500 K, from CuFeS2, can be done with many different combinations of: blast%02 hydrocarbon fuel blast temperature. This chapter repeats the Chapter 10 calculations but reports the results in terms of the mass industrial oxygen mass hydrocarbon fuel blast preheat energy combinations that will produce 65% Cu matte, 1500 K, from CuFeS2 concentrate. It also determines the energy inputs equivalent to these combinations.

Jan 1, 2001

By Baozhong Zhao

In-situ vitrification (ISV) is a new technology used for treating radioactive, organic and inorganic contaminated soils. In this process, electricity is applied through electrodes buried in the contaminated soil to melt it and form an environmentally stable glass-like solid. The organic contaminants and volatile metals are vaporized during heating up, the non-volatile inorganic elements are dissolved and incorporated into the melt. In present full-scale operation, the ISV process can treat 4 to 6 tons of soil per hour at consumption of about 1000 kwh per ton of soil. In this study, various configurations of electrodes were examined in a mathematical model. The results may be used to optimize the ISV process.

Jan 1, 1994

By R. Togashi, S. Kuramochi, T. Yamada

In 1972, the Akita Zinc Co., Ltd. commenced operations with an annual capacity of 86,000 tonnes of electrolytic zinc, and it has operated with an annual capacity of 156,000 t-Zn since 1974. The business surroundings for non-ferrous metals production have become more severe with the high Yen rate for the dollar and low domestic demand in the last few years. Consequently, the company tried to survive with some improvements and succeeded to reduce operating costs and to improve profitability as follows: 1) expansion of its production capacity to. 196,000 t-Zn annually, 2) saving man-power by the introduction of fully-automated machines for cathode handling in the cellhouse, 3) improvement of the hematite process by means of the recovery of rare-metals. These improvements made Akita Zinc a competitive refinery in the modern world. We have been trying to improve the operations more and more. One of the challenges is to purify the iron oxide made in the hematite process by applying an As removal process, which is coming into operation in the near future.

Jan 1, 2000

By Eren Hüseyin Obuz

In this study, the leaching kinetics of rare-earth elements were investigated using HCl and HNO3 solutions. A standard crushed complex ore was utilized as raw material. The complex ore (particle size of under 54 μm) contains REE (Ce, La, Nd, Pr, etc.). Different leaching durations were selected for the kinetic studies. The highest leaching efficiency was obtained in HCl solution, and the leaching mechanism was identified to diffusion through a product layer. The rate constants of Ce, La, Nd, and Pr were calculated as 1.08 × 10−2, 0.86 × 10−2, 1.87 × 10−2, and 1.34 × 10−2 h−1, respectively.

By Xiaobing Yang, Abhishek Lahiri, Animesh Jha

"In the FFC-Cambridge process, the cathodic dissociation of oxide and CO/CO2 production on carbon anode is the basis for metal production in a CaCl2 bath. By using an inert intermetallic anode, the CO2 evolution can be eliminated altogether with acceleration in the electro-reduction kinetics. At present the process suffers from slow reduction kinetics of TiO2 to Ti metal, which can be enhanced significantly by the incorporation of alkali species in the TiO2 pellet at the cathode and in the CaCl2 bath in the presence of an intermetallic inert anode. Nearly full metallization with greater than 99% of Ti metal containing 1500 ppm of oxygen is possible to achieve in less than 16 hours of electro-reduction. Analyses of phase composition and the microstructures morphology in fully metallized pellets revealed the presence of localized solidified Ti layer, indicating that fast reduction process also involved formation of liquid phase as middle stage reaction. In addition, in situ creation of porosity and maintain higher current level during electrolysis process were two key factors to fully reduction of TiO2.IntroductionDuring cathodic dissociation of TiO2 in a CaCl2 bath and anodic evolution of CO2 on a carbon anode, which is the basis for the FFC Cambridge process [1], the rate of metallization slows down due to the formation of CaTiO3 at the reaction interface. Calcium and alkaline earth perovskites are known for their poor electrical conductivity which adversely affects the overall electro-reduction. One of the ways to increase the porosity is via the addition of polyethylene precursors in the pellet or by directly starting from perovskite [2, 3]. The experimental evidences shown in the literature confirm although the speed of reaction increases, but a complete or near complete metallization is not possible by enhancing the in-situ porosity alone, as the insulating perovskite is very slow to decompose under the equilibrium that prevails in the cell. Plethoric evidences on carbon anode show with the current decrease gradually, and finally stabilize at a very low value between 0.2 and 0.4 A, which is a testimony of the presence of perovskite insulating barrier in the current path. Our aim in this paper is to demonstrate the mechanism of enhanced electro-reduction when alkali ions are present in the oxide pellet at cathode and in the bath. We also show for the first time the use of an intermetallic anode for Ti-metal production using the FFC Cambridge process."

Jan 1, 2009

By Chen Chen, Wang Yanze, Hong Xin

Furnace superalloy was applied in harsh environment within the erosion of high temperature and oxidizing atmosphere. With plasma powder surfacing technology, iron-based alloy powder was sprayed on the surface of 310S stainless steel to form oxidation layer that increases the oxidation resistance and reduces the cost of materials. With optimum technological parameters, in this paper, oxidation test of 100 hours on iron-based cladding alloy and furnace alloy were carried out at 1200 . The technique of XRF, XRD and EDS were used to characterize composition, oxide morphologies and surface mechanical properties. The results showed that Element composition of cladding layer formed by Plasma powder surfacing was well distributed. Its oxidation weight gain rate of 100 hours was 0.4552g/m2h, belonged to antioxidant level. The oxidation weight gain rate of furnace alloy was 1.4617g/m2h, belonged time-antioxidant level. And on the mechanical comparison test, surfacing alloy is relatively excellent than furnace alloy.

Jan 1, 2016

By F. Michael Hosking

Modeling of a furnace brazing process is described. The computational tools predict the thermal response of loaded hardware in a hydrogen brazing furnace to programmed furnace profiles. Experiments were conducted to validate the model and resolve computational uncertainties. The results from selected furnace simulations and measured thermal events were compared. Critical boundary conditions that affect materials and processing response to the furnace environment were determined. "Global" and local issues (i.e., at the furnace/hardware and joint levels, respectively) are discussed. The ability to accurately simulate and control furnace conditions is examined.

Jan 1, 1998

By Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório

Electronic components have precious metals like Au and Ag. These metals have a high performance in electric conductance. The recycling of the scrap, however is too difficult because of the presence of other metals like Fe, Al, Zn, Sn, ceramics and plastics, all together in electronic components. The aim of the present work was to define one way for physical separation to have metallic non-ferrous concentrates. It was used three kinds of scrap. I was used conventional equipment for mineral processing like hammer mill; screens, electrostatic and magnetic separation.

Jan 1, 1997