ABP is one of the world’s leading creators of induction furnaces and heating systems for the metalworking and foundry industry. With design, production, assembly and other services offered for foundries and forging plants using induction, ABP manufactures a range of equipment for melting, pouring, holding and heating of steel, iron and non ferrous metals.

Engineering advances in the coreless medium frequency furnace have boosted induction melting rates in recent years. The development of static frequency converters has led to a number of benefits, including higher efficiency, improved reliability, minimum maintenance costs and lower capital investment. For the three main tasks of a foundry – melting, holding and pouring – ABP Induction offers induction furnace systems that are designed to guarantee high efficiency and economy required in today’s modern foundry.

Use of thermochemical data in inductive melting
Minimising the energy consumed during inductive melting of metal alloys is an ongoing concern for plant constructors and operators. Surprisingly enough, little thought is given to the potential provided by the enthalpy of the melt in question.

ABP Induction Systems GmbH (ABP), located in Dortmund, Germany (formerly ABB Foundry Systems) has for decades been one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-throughput induction melting, pouring and heating equipment

It is demonstrated in a technical paper written by Dr.-Ing. Erwin Dötsch of ABP Induction Systems GmbH that the composition of the input materials has a considerable influence on the heat content of alloy melts and therefore on their energy consumption. Enthalpies for different input materials can be derived from tabular thermochemical data and these can be used in inductive melting. This particularly applies to the production of cast iron melts made from scrap steel and various silicon carriers and also to brass melts made from copper and zinc as feed components compared to input materials made of brass.

In the attempts to minimise energy consumption during inductive melting of metal alloys, account also needs to be taken of the potential offered by the specific enthalpy of the alloy melts. Tabular thermochemical data demonstrate that the composition of the input materials exercises a considerable influence on the energy requirement. The main factors here are primarily endothermic and exothermic processes of transformation and dissolution in the alloying components, as is shown by the enthalpy values determined for cast iron melts. Siliconising with FeSi instead of with SiC produces an energy benefit of up to 25 kWh/t. It is also recommendable to make use of the available thermochemical data in melting practice for aluminium and copper alloys. For example, the energy requirement when melting brass from the components Cu and Zn is up to 40 kWh/t lower than if brass materials are fed in.

For further details contact ABP Induction Furnaces on TEL: 011 623 1814/17 or cell number 072 158 1117 or email byron.mccall@abpinduction.com. You can also visit www.abpinduction.com