Melting hearth, cold hearth melting system, and process for producing high temperature metal alloys

A cold hearth melting system for producing a high temperature metal alloy comprising:

• a heat source having a heat signature;
• a melting hearth comprising:
• a body having walls constructed from a high temperature material,
• a melting cavity in the body configured to melt the feed material using heat from the heat source into a molten metal, the melting cavity having a topography that mirrors the heat signature of the heat source, and
• a conformal fluid cooling passage in the body configured to cool the melting cavity using a cooling fluid, the conformal fluid cooling passage having a contour that matches the topography of the melting cavity to provide a flow path for the cooling fluid parallel to the topography of the melting cavity;
• a magnetic stirring system formed integrally with, or proximate to the body of the melting hearth configured to stir the molten metal in the melting cavity;
• and
• a fluid cooling system having a fluid source for the cooling fluid in flow communication with the conformal fluid cooling passage.

A process for producing a high temperature metal alloy from a feed material comprising:

• providing a cold hearth melting system comprising a melting hearth having a body with high temperature walls, a melting cavity having a topography and a plurality of fluid cooling passages including one or more conformal fluid cooling passages in the body having a contour that matches the topography of the melting cavity to provide a flow path for the cooling fluid parallel to the topography of the melting cavity, a heat source having a heat signature configured to melt a feed material into a molten metal, with the topography of the melting cavity mirroring a heat signature of the heat source, a magnetic stirring system integral with or proximate to the body of the melting hearth, and a tilting mechanism for tilting the melting hearth;
• melting the feed material and metal alloys into a molten metal using a heating process wherein heat from the heat source is applied to the feed material in the melting cavity to form a molten metal;
• stirring the molten metal during the melting process using the magnetic stirring system;
• and
• pouring the molten metal from the melting cavity using the tilting mechanism.