Direct chill casting of aluminum-lithium alloys
AssigneeAluminum Company of America
InventorsJohn E. Jacoby, Ho Yu, Robert A. Ramser
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Abstract
A method for continuously casting lithium-containing alloys by a direct chill process includes cooling the alloy to form a continuous ingot having a solid shell and further cooling the ingot by direct chill with an organic coolant. The organic coolant in one aspect includes a modified hydrocarbon fluid, e.g., ethylene glycol, having less than a predetermined moisture content. The method includes recirculating coolant while controlling moisture content. An ingot formed by the present invention provides small dendrite arm spacing in a relatively large size ingot.
Claims7
A method of continuously casting an aluminum-lithium alloy comprising:
- cooling aluminum-lithium alloy sufficiently to form a continuous ingot having a substantially solid shell;
- and
- cooling said ingot by direct chill with a coolant comprising ethylene glycol containing water at a controlled level from about 1% to no more than about 5% by volume in a direct chill cooling zone to form a shell of sufficient thickness substantially to avoid bleed-outs and a subsequent lower head transfer for stress relief, said coolant being applied to the surface of said ingot and separating therefrom.
In a process for continuously casting a metal alloy comprising cooling molten alloy in a shell-forming zone and further cooling said alloy by direct chill with a coolant to form a continuous ingot, the improvement comprising:
- casting an aluminum-lithium alloy;
- and
- performing said direct chill cooling with a coolant comprising ethylene glycol containing water at a controlled level from about 1% to no more than about 5% water by volume, said coolant being applied to the surface of said alloy and separating therefrom.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.