Product category:
Metals processing plant and equipment
News Release from: Rautomead International | Subject: RS Upwards Vertical Casting Machine
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 30 November 2007
Upwards vertical caster produces Cu-Mg
rod
An upwards vertical casting machine uses a graphite crucible, electrical resistance heating and nitrogen gas protection of the internal hot-working parts to produce copper-magnesium rod.
Rautomead, based in Scotland, has recently commissioned a new RS Upwards Vertical Casting Machine for production of 30mm diameter copper-magnesium rod at Lamifil, Belgium This is the second similar Rautomead machine to be installed at Lamifil, which major in the manufacture of conductor wires and trolley wire for railway systems
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 3 Dec 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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Upward vertical machine casts O2-free copper rod
To produce the highest quality oxygen-free copper wire rod in a range of sizes from 8.0mm to 22mm diameter, a Vietnamese company has installed an automated upward vertical casting machine.
Advanced know-how ensures quality precious metals
Advanced conti-cast expertise, utilising a naturally oxygen-reducing graphite crucible and safe, low voltage resistance heating produces the very highest quality precious metals products.
Copper-magnesium is a preferred alloyed-copper for high-speed rail applications in many countries, as it provides a balance of good electrical conductivity and high tensile strength.
As well as meeting these physical property requirements, copper-magnesium is also an environmentally benign material with no toxicity hazard.
From a manufacturing point of view, copper-magnesium is not an easy alloyed-copper to produce, said Rautomead to manufacturingtalk.com.
The reasons are, as follows.
* The light and volatile nature of magnesium.
* Magnesium's propensity to form slag when molten.
* The need to maintain a very precise alloy composition in the wire rod.
The novel Rautomead RS Upwards Casting process has been well proven in the production of this alloy.
Special features of the Rautomead process include the use of a graphite crucible, electrical resistance heating and nitrogen gas protection of the internal hot-working parts.
Commenting on his company's investment in a second Rautomead machine, Managing Director of Lamifil, Charly Verheyden, said: "Our association with Rautomead and their upwards vertical casting technology goes back ten years when we installed our first machine at Hemiksem.
Lamifil's copper-magnesium trolley wire is now widely used in Western Europe, including on the high-speed TGV line from Brussels into France, the Netherlands and Germany".
He continued: "We are delighted with our new Rautomead machine, Now, with two units, we will have much greater flexibility in planning our production to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of the national railway authorities in the countries where Lamifil trades.".
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