Apparatus for the production of metal ribbons and method therefor

Abstract

Apparatus and method for continuous melt spin casting of homogenous materials, including metals, alloys, and non metals. The material to be cast is provided to a crucible and liquefied. The melt is filtered prior to casting to provide a melt with a high degree of purity. The material temperature is maintained throughout the process to form a solidified product with excellent homogeneity.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . Apparatus for continuous melt spin casting of materials, comprising: 
 a chamber;    a supply crucible and a casting crucible disposed within said chamber, said supply crucible for supplying molten material to said casting crucible, said casting crucible for ejecting at least two streams of molten material for solidification, each stream being ejected through an orifice in said casting crucible;    monitoring means for determining the level of molten material in said casting crucible;    a selectively actuated flow control valve for controlling the flow of molten material from said supply crucible to said casting crucible to maintain the level of molten material in said casting crucible within a range;    valve control means for actuating said flow control valve as a function of material level in said casting crucible as sensed by said monitoring means;    means for filtering the molten material prior to casting;    thermal control means for controlling the temperature of material within said casting crucible; and    a chill wheel disposed within said chamber for the solidification of streams of molten material ejected through said orifices, each of said orifice being at an equal distance from a contact point on said wheel, whereby equal length streams of material at a uniform temperature and flow rate are rapidly solidified to form homogenous ribbons of material.    
     
     
         2 . Apparatus for continuous melt spin casting of materials according to    claim 1   , further comprising a loading vessel to supply the casting crucible with material.  
     
     
         3 . Apparatus for continuous melt spin casting of materials according to    claim 1   , wherein said means for filtering is a ceramic filter element.  
     
     
         4 . Apparatus for continuous melt spin casting of materials according to    claim 1   , further comprising means for removing accumulated material from an external surface of said orifices.  
     
     
         5 . Apparatus for continuous melt spin casting of materials according to    claim 4   , wherein said means for removing material is said chill wheel.  
     
     
         6 . A method for continuous melt spin casting of materials;, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a chamber;    providing a material supply crucible and a casting crucible disposed within a chamber, the material supply crucible for receiving molten material to be supplied to the casting crucible, the casting crucible having at least two orifices therein;    monitoring the level of molten material in the casting crucible;    controllably releasing molten material from the supply crucible through a flow control valve;    filtering the molten material released from the material supply crucible prior to crystallizing;    maintaining the molten material level in the casting crucible, whereby the molten material flow rate through the orifices is controlled by the static pressure of the molten material in the casting crucible, whereby a constant material flow rate is achieved;    controlling the temperature of the molten material in the casting crucible to provide material for casting at a consistent temperature;    ejecting at least two streams of molten material from the casting crucible, each stream ejected through one of the orifices in the casting crucible, each orifice being equidistant from an associated contact point on a chill wheel, each stream having an equal length and diameter; and    rapidly solidifying the molten material by ejecting the streams of molten material upon the chill wheel, whereby the streams of molten material having a consistent temperature, flow rate and diameter are quenched to form materials having homogenous properties.    
     
     
         7 . The method according to    claim 6   , wherein the molten material is filtered through a ceramic filter element.  
     
     
         8 . The method according to    claim 6   , wherein each orifice in the casting crucible is in communication with a nozzle.  
     
     
         9 . The method according to    claim 6   , further including the step of removing accumulated material deposits from the orifices in the casting crucible.  
     
     
         10 . The method according to    claim 9   , wherein the accumulated material deposits are removed by the chill wheel.  
     
     
         11 . The method according to    claim 6   , further including the step of providing a loading vessel to supply the casting crucible with material.  
     
     
         12 . The method according to    claim 6   , further including the step of controlling the temperature of the molten material in the supply crucible.