Induction furnace

[JBV]

Hello!

Im thinking of building a induction furnace of about 2,5 kW! The electronics seem to be very simple to build! With a vacuum pump and a good chamber it should be possible to cheaply and cleanly melt just about every kind of metal or to make perfectly homogenuos alloys

http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/indheat.html

How would you solve the pouring in the closed chamber? I was thinking of using a solenoid to "pull the plug" in the bottom of the crucible. It would take much space to tilt the crucible and harder to get the pour in the right place

What kind of refractory should i use to be able to melt higher temperature metals? How high vacuum would i need? Will i need flux? What material should i use for crucible?

/Jay

[ViperTX]

I'm sure there is a reason why commercial furnaces don't use "pull the plug" on their crucibles....could be differences in thermal expansion.

[JBV]

I was thinking about a cone as the plug with a spring who push it down in the hole with the same draft angle.. Something like this! The spring should keep it tight

/Jay

[JavaDog]

Just out of curiosity, what would you make the 'plug and rod' out of to keep it from melting?

EDIT: Nevermind, read better and answered my own question.

[JBV]

Well the same material as the crucible i guess... Perhaps graphite or some kind of ceramic I dont want it to react with the metal! Would graphite change the properties?

/Jay

[JavaDog]

Originally Posted by JBV Well the same material as the crucible i guess... Perhaps graphite or some kind of ceramic I dont want it to react with the metal! Would graphite change the properties? /Jay

So you would be planning on having someone custom make the crucible?

I looked at the cost of graphite crucibles once, they ain't cheap!

I guess I don't see why the hold/plug custom crucible would even be needed? Judging from the page you linked - it would seem that you would just make your coil large enough to put the crucible inside and use hooks/tongs to get the crucible out of the center off the coil (after you shut it off, I would assume).

Now that I think about it, you should be able to embed the coil in the wall of a self-made furnace...

I don't know, I just like to keep things ASAP - As Simple As Possible.

[JBV]

I'm planning on doing all melting and casting under vacuum in a closed chamber to avoid oxidation, so i have to be able to do the casting by "remote"

A ceramic crucible (and plug) should be very easy to make... Just build a form for it and then burn it in a kiln.

Simple solutions is working... But takes away the fun in building and designing And is often not optimal This is what i'm thinking of... I guess it could be a problem with sealing. :P I guess it would be nice to be able to measure temperature! Can you use a IR thermometer trough glass?

[Me2]

There are lots of simple ways to protect the melt from oxidization other than a vacuum. As far as bottom tapping goes many have tried different methods of plugging and sealing without much success. Even the smallest leak that can't be stopped can ruin you furnace. Depending on what you are melting home made crucibles are fraught with danger, a bit like juggling eggs.
If you want to see a very successful home made induction furnace check out –http://home.iprimus.com.au/cmckeown/...on_furnace.htm
This furnace primarily melts cast iron. The results are an extremely high grade of metal.

[JBV]

Yep i have seen that one Very cool! Well if i build the electronics its easy to try different coils and configurations... I guess i would start with something simpler like that! Just to get started anyway

[metalcaster4jc]

I've been aprofessional metalcaster for close to 25 years witha degree in metallurgy. Oxidation is least of your concerns when processing steel. Depending upon the composition, nitrogen is the biggest culprit.
You also use different molding materials for steel. Petrobond won't do. Kiln dried ceramic makes great mold and casting, all of that with it's own process restraints and problems.
You don't want to use graphite crucibles with steel, the molten metal dissolves the graphite in the crucible and you end up with a stainer.
You have to have steel in the 3050 degree F range to pour it and it looses heat really fast!!!! All the prep work and you end up with a mis run casting.
Commercial vacuum induction furnaces, especially with aerospace castigns and alloys, have the preheated ceramic mold on top of the induction furnace, at the proper time teh whole unit is inverted and the mold filled.

[Al_The_Man]

Were there any schematics posted somewhere for the one shown in the link?
It's OK I did'nt look hard enough
Al.

[DukerX]

Have there been any development in this field lateley??
I am in the process of gathering information on a furnace that could be used for melting Al and possibly for making some Al/Mg alloys.
Ideally, I want to use electricity as the energy source, and have already made a ill-conceived attempt at making a resistive heater, but I can't find a suitable castable refractory, so I resorted to fireplace-brics and leca, loosely fitted in a large steel bowl, and using nicrothal wires coiled up as springs, and fitted in slots carved in the bricks.
The result was a big spike in the electric bill, and alot of red-hot leca and fire bricks...
The Al I managed to melt, ate it's way through the capped steel pipe crucible, and generally made a big mess..

I'm pondering a new design, using a red clay crusible and furnace liner/heat wire holder and using mineral whool for insulation.

While browsing the net, I found out about induction heating, and started to seriously consider this as an alternative route.

Al is a very conductive material and also it's not magnetic, and I would guess that it would be pretty hard to develop enough heat to melt it.

How would clay stand up to the thermal fluctuations that one could expect from a furnace like this?
Just hours ago, I exploded a small square of hardened glass by ignoring the stresses caused by uneven heating.
I made a small coil from my heating wire, and placed it on the glass, and placed a piece of Al inside...
The al melted, and solidified into a blob on the glass...
I removed the glob, and put the glass aside to cool down.
After maybe 5 minutes, it exploded, and sprayed small glass cubes all over the place...
Would clay behave in a similar manner, or is it more flexible?