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ABSTRACT
Electro Slag Remelting (ESR) is a process which allows controlling the solidification rate and refining the liquid metal.
After outlining the principles and applications of the ESR process, its advantages and limitations will be discussed and compared to other ingot casting processes. The main designs of ESR furnaces and the principle of a remelting sequence will be presented.
Finally, the benefits of the process modeling as a numerical tool to help the determination of suitable operating parameters will be illustrated.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Alain JARDY: Director of Research, CNRS – Doctor of Materials Science, Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine - Institut Jean Lamour – UMR 7198 Université de Lorraine/CNRS (Nancy, France)
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Stéphane HANS: Head of the R&D Department – Alloy Elaboration and Casting – Doctorate in Materials Science and Engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine - Aubert & Duval (Les Ancizes, France)
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Sylvain CHARMOND: Research Engineer – Doctorate in Materials and Processes Science and Engineering from Grenoble Polytechnic Institute - Aubert & Duval (Les Ancizes, France)
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Alexandre DEVAUX: Head of Metallurgy/Processes – Doctorate in Materials Science from École des Mines de Paris - Aubert & Duval (Les Ancizes, France)
INTRODUCTION
The electro-slag remelting (ESR) process was developed in the 1960s to meet the needs of the aerospace, energy and nuclear industries for materials with enhanced utility value or for critical applications.
The process is mainly used for the production of steel ingots or superalloys, and feeds the transformation process into semi-finished products by forging or rolling, as well as the manufacture of finished products for a wide range of industries.
Global ESR remelted ingot capacity exceeds one million tonnes per year.
By controlling the solidification rate and refining the liquid metal with a slag, remelted ingots are of higher quality than primary ingots. Remelted steels or superalloys are characterized by high inclusional cleanliness, excellent compactness and chemical homogeneity.
The advantages and limitations of this production method will be discussed and compared with conventional ingot production processes or the vacuum arc remelting process. The main slag remelted grades and associated markets will be presented.
The principle of melting control is presented, with details of the main operating levers and the compositions of the slags commonly used. The choice of these parameters and the maintenance of stable reflow conditions largely determine the final quality of the ingots produced. The technological aspect of the ESR process is also addressed, with a presentation of the different ESR furnace configurations.
Finally, this article deals with process modeling. Numerical tools have been developed to describe the complex physical mechanisms involved. The state of the art and the principles of model validation are discussed, before a presentation of various applications which illustrate the value of these tools in helping the producer to optimize the choice of operating conditions.
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KEYWORDS
slag | steels | furnace | ingots | solidification | remelting | superalloys | inclusion | ESR
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Electroslag remelting (ESR) process
Slag remelting principle
Bibliography
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Directory
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Innovative Research – Develops MELTFLOW-ESR software
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