The computer modelling of the semi-levitation melting of metals

Currently, the most suitable method of melting titanium aluminide is to use induction skull melting (ISM) in which the alloy is melted in a water-cooled segmented copper crucible. Although this technique is metallurgically satisfactory, it has very poor energy efficiency and is therefore costly to use. The University of Alabama has recently developed a "semi-levitation" melting technique which offers a potential means of melting reactive alloys without the use of a crucible. this uses a specially-designed induction coil to develop an electromagnetic field which progressively melts and contains an alloy billet placed on a water-cooled annular base. A method for modelling the change of the free surface has been developed. A UNIX Shell script has been developed to complete the iterations between the calculations of the electromagnetic field, flow field and free surface shape. The current model integrates the stirring and levitation effects of the semi-levitation melting process and it can be used to model similar electromagnetic processing techniques of materials.