US 4,416,440 AGranted

Ingot mold and method

AssigneeHarold M. Bowman

InventorsHarold M. Bowman, Thomas P. Kicher

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Abstract

An ingot mold provided with means affording stress relief thereto for the ingot pouring operation, while maintaining the mold in condition to aid in preventing metal leakage therefrom during the ingot pouring operation and subsequent cooling of the ingot, and providing mold wall support for the ingot until its skin has sufficient structural integrity to support the molten interior of the ingot, and a mold which can be recycled for use in a faster manner as compared to heretofore utilized solid or one-piece type ingot molds. In certain embodiments, the mold is formed of a plurality of completely separate and individual side wall sections defining at least the side periphery of a mold cavity, together with coupling means connecting the wall sections together. The coupling means provide for expansion and contraction of the mold sections relative to one another during the pouring of molten metal into the mold, and the resultant heating and subsequent cooling thereof. At least certain of such coupling means comprises adjustable spring means able to be preloaded a predetermined extent prior to the pouring operation, and thus providing for predetermined preloading of the openable and closeable junctures between the mold sections. In other embodiments, the mold may be of a generally one-piece affair, but having said wall sections with junctures openable and closeable, together with the aforementioned coupling means, including preloadable spring means, for automatic compensation for expansion and contraction of the mold during the pouring and ingot producing cycles thereof in a manner to provide stress relief to the mold. A novel method for production of metal ingots is also disclosed.

Claims28

Dependent claims

In a method for molding ingots comprising, providing a mold having side wall sections defining at least in part a generally vertically oriented mold cavity, the wall sections comprising generally vertically extending juncture surfaces adapted for opening and closing relative to one another resulting from the pouring of molten metal into the mold cavity and the resultant heating and subsequent cooling of the mold and associated ingot formed therein, clamping such juncture surfaces together by adjustable spring fastener means coacting between said wall sections and preloading said spring fastener means a predetermined amount so that said spring fastener means will provide sufficient clamping force to maintain said juncture surfaces in generally preloaded abutting condition until completion of the filling of the mold cavity to a predetermined extent with molten metal and the formation of an ingot skin on a poured ingot therein having sufficient structural integrity to support the molten interior of the ingot, said spring fastener means being operable to prevent leakage of molten metal between said juncture surfaces and to control stresses occasioned from the pouring of molten metal into the mold, said spring fastener means being applied to said mold to preload said juncture surfaces generally adjacent the upper and lower ends of said mold, said predetermined preload being determined by combining the total force of fluid static loading with the total forces to restrict the free thermal deformation from the assembled mold wall sections occurring during the pouring of molten metal into the mold, in order to prevent leakage between the mold wall sections, said free thermal deformation being determined by the formula:

##EQU15## wherein W represents the thermal bending deformation of the mold section, M.sub.T is the thermal moment, x and y are respectively the x and y coordinates of the outermost corner of the mold wall section, E is the modulus of elasticity of the mold wall section and h is the thickness of the mold wall section, and then commencing the pouring of molten metal into the mold cavity and filling the latter to predetermined extent with molten metal, said spring fastener means upon completion of the filling of the mold to predetermined extent and formation of the said ingot skin, being operable to compress beyond the preloaded condition due at least in part to the thermal moment in said wall sections and permit controlled separation of said juncture surfaces, thus limiting the stresses applied to the wall sections during the metal pouring operation and resultant heating of the mold sections.

An ingot mold comprising one or more mold wall sections defining at least in part a generally vertically oriented mold cavity into which molten metal is adapted to be poured, spring fastener means coacting between adjacent sections for clamping the latter together along generally vertically extending juncture surfaces, said spring fastener means being operable to prevent leakage of molten metal between said juncture surfaces and to control stresses occasioned from the pouring of molten metal into the mold cavity and the resultant heating of the mold wall sections, and resisting separation of said juncture surfaces during the pouring operation and resultant heating of the mold, said spring fastener means including means for preloading said spring fastener means to a predetermined extent and with sufficient clamping force to maintain said juncture surfaces in a generally preloaded abutting condition until completion of the filling of the mold cavity a predetermined extent with molten metal and the formation of an ingot skin on a poured ingot therein having sufficient structural integrity to support the molten interior of the ingot, said spring fastener means being capable of applying to said mold a predetermined amount of force to said juncture surfaces generally adjacent the upper and lower ends of said mold, said predetermined amount of force being determined by combining the total force of fluid static loading with the total forces for restricting the free thermal deformation from the assembled mold wall sections occurring during the pouring of molten metal into the mold, in order to prevent leakage between the mold wall sections, said free thermal deformation being determined by the formula:

##EQU16## wherein W represents the thermal bending deformation of the mold section, M.sub.T is the thermal moment, x and y are respectively the x and y coordinates of the outermost corner of the mold wall section, E is the modulus of elasticity of the mold wall section and h is the thickness of the mold wall section, said fastener means being operable to compress beyond the preloaded condition due at least in part to the thermal moment in said wall sections and permit controlled separation of said juncture surfaces so as to respond to the thermal deformation configuration of the ingot mold, thus limiting the stresses applied to the wall sections during the metal pouring operation and resultant heating thereof, said spring fastener means possessing memory and being adapted to return to substantially their preheated size condition after cooling thereof to cause said mold juncture surfaces to return to generally preloaded abutting relationship.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 06/266,382Filed 22 May 1981 · continuation in part
Priority: 29 Jul 1975
Granted: 22 Nov 1983
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification2 codes

B22D 7/08
Ingot moulds or their manufacture: divided ingot moulds
B22D
Casting of metals

Family

Serial600,060Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 29 Jul 1975
Serial669,650Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 24 Jun 1976
Serial3,093Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 15 Jan 1979
Serial78,447Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 24 Sep 1979
US 4,358,084 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 4,269,385 AParent of this continuation-in-part
US 4,416,440 AThis patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.