The furnace is capable of melting the 1000kg of titanium required to make a 500kg casting and has three interchangeable bodies, which give it the versatility to produce components with a finished weight ranging upwards from 60kg.
Closed loop cooling systems that prevent the furnace bodies themselves from melting are being installed, along with hydraulic and pneumatic systems, which carry out a number of functions, including removing air from the furnace and casting chambers – essential when dealing with molten titanium, which reacts violently with oxygen. The systems are also used to rotate the furnace body to pour molten titanium into a ceramic mould in the casting chamber below, which incorporates a turntable that can spin the mould at up to 300 revolutions a minute to create a high quality centrifugal casting.
Furnace construction is due to finish in time for training and cold commissioning to start during November 2016 and will be followed by hot commissioning and the first test melts in December, depending on when permission is given to energise the power supplies.
Initial casts will be poured into a static metal mould before trials begin using static ceramic moulds from the new shelling plant. Staff will then start building up the experience needed to operate the centrifugal casting system at full speed.
AMRC Castings’ new furnace is part of a major investment and R&D programme, designed to enable UK companies to break into global markets for large-scale titanium aerospace engine and structural components.
