Process for producing ingot

Abstract

A large and uniform ingot is produced by casting smaller ingots from a melt of a metallic material which may include a high-melting-point active metal such as Ti or a Ti alloy obtained by a cold crucible induction melting method, forming a consumable electrode by using these smaller ingots, re-melting this consumable electrode by a vacuum arc re-melting method, and casting a larger ingot by using the obtained melt.

1 . A process for producing an ingot, said process comprising the steps of: 
 casting smaller ingots from a melt obtained by a cold crucible induction melting method;    forming a consumable electrode by using said smaller ingots;    re-melting said consumable electrode by a vacuum arc re-melting method to obtain another melt; and    casting a larger ingot larger than said smaller ingots by using said another melt.    
   
   
       2 . The process of  claim 1  comprising Step A, Step B and Step C wherein said Step A comprises melting a metallic material by a cold crucible induction melting method to obtain said melt and pouring said melt into a smaller mold to obtain smaller ingots by casting; 
 wherein said Step B comprises joining a plurality of the smaller cast ingots after carrying out said Step A once or more times; and    wherein said Step C comprises using the joined smaller ingots obtained in said Step B as said consumable electrode for re-melting to obtain said another melt and obtaining said larger ingot by a casting method by pouring said another melt into a larger mold larger than said smaller mold.    
   
   
       3 . The process of  claim 1  comprising Step a, Step b and Step c wherein said Step a comprises melting a metallic material by a cold crucible induction melting method to obtain said melt and pouring said melt into a portion of a larger mold to obtain a smaller ingot by casting, said smaller ingot being smaller than the space inside said larger mold; 
 wherein said Step b comprises joining a plurality of the smaller cast ingots inside said larger mold after carrying out said Step a once or more times; and    wherein said Step c comprises using the joined smaller ingots obtained in said Step b as said consumable electrode for re-melting to obtain said another melt and obtaining said larger ingot by a casting method by pouring said another melt into said larger mold.    
   
   
       4 . The process of  claim 2  wherein said Step B comprises joining said plurality of the smaller cast ingots over surfaces extending along the axis of the consumable electrode used in said Step C.  
   
   
       5 . The process of  claim 3  wherein said Step b comprises joining said plurality of smaller cast ingots sequentially over surfaces extending along the axis of the consumable electrode used in said Step c.  
   
   
       6 . The process of  claim 2  wherein said Step B comprises joining said plurality of the smaller cast ingots over surfaces extending perpendicularly to the axis of the consumable electrode used in said Step C.  
   
   
       7 . The process of  claim 3  wherein said Step b comprises joining said plurality of smaller cast ingots sequentially over surfaces extending perpendicularly to the axis of the consumable electrode used in said Step c.  
   
   
       8 . The process of  claim 2  wherein said metallic material is a high-melting-point active metal or an alloy thereof.  
   
   
       9 . The process of  claim 3  wherein said metallic material is a high-melting-point active metal or an alloy thereof.  
   
   
       10 . The process of  claim 2  wherein said metallic material is Ti or an alloy thereof.  
   
   
       11 . The process of  claim 3  wherein said metallic material is Ti or an alloy thereof.