Melt quality control at aluminum casting plants

Abstract

Control of the quality of the product normally begins with the control of the quality of the melt. A complete understanding of melt quality is of a great importance for the control and prediction of actual casting characteristics. If one is able to act in a proactive rather than a reactive manner in respect to melt and casting quality control, one can reduce cost downtime and scraps levels. There is no a unique apparatus on the market available for complete assessment of aluminum melt quality. Therefore, aparatus combining several methods such as: thermal analysis, reduced pressure test, K-mold, Tatur test, fluidity spiral test and PoDFA have to be used for complete evaluation of the aluminum melt quality. This paper will review all above mentioned apparatus and introduces two new apparatus Alspek H and Alspek MQ, recently developed by Foseco Company.