Various types of furnaces have been used for cast iron melting. In terms of tonnage, the primary melting methods used by iron casting facilities are cupola and induction furnaces. This article describes the operation and control principles of cupola furnace. It discusses the advantages of specialized cupolas such as cokeless cupola and plasma-fired cupola. Melting in iron foundries is a major application of induction furnaces. The article describes the operations of two induction furnaces: the channel induction furnace and the induction crucible furnace. It explains the teapot principle of pressure-actuated pouring furnaces and provides information on the effect of pouring magnesium-treated melts.

Crucible furnaces, as compared to electric arc furnaces, are increasingly deployed in various melting practices due to their environmental and workplace friendliness and their process benefits. This article focuses on the application of induction crucible furnaces for melting and pouring operations in small-and medium-sized steel foundries, including aluminum, copper, and zinc industries. It also provides information on the process engineering benefits of melting and pouring operations.

This article focuses on the basic turbulent flow, and the thermal, mass-transfer, and hydrodynamic phenomena for use in modeling physical processes during induction melting. It provides a discussion on transport phenomena equations that includes the approximation of convective terms in the transport equation and computational schemes for the fluid dynamics equation. The aspects of computational algorithms for specific magnetohydrodynamic problems with mutual influence of the magnetic field and melt flow due to the changing shape of the free surface are also considered. The article illustrates the application of the basic equations and approaches formulated for electromagnetic field and melt turbulent flow for the numerical study of an induction crucible furnace.

This article provides an overview of the models of two induction heating devices, namely, induction crucible furnace (ICF) and induction furnace with slits, or segmented and water-cooled induction furnace with cold crucible (IFCC). These devices are used for melting with skull formation of low-conductivity materials such as glasses and oxides. The article presents the governing equations and boundary conditions for ICF and IFCC modeling. It includes a discussion on three electromagnetic field models in IFCC, namely, two-dimensional (2-D), quasi-three-dimensional, and three-dimensional (3-D) models. The article provides information on the simulation of skull formation in IFCC, and elucidates the transient axisymmetrical 2-D model and the transient 3-D model, including the primary results achieved for both glasses and skull formation.

Induction processes for melting and heating of metals belong to the high-energy-consuming industrial processes, and continuous improvement of energy efficiency of competitive melting and heating technologies is of increasing interest. This article discusses the energy demand of various melting processes and the improvements in the efficiency of melting processes in induction crucible furnaces. It provides energetic and ecological comparisons of different furnaces for melting of cast iron and aluminum. The article also describes the energy and power management of induction melting processes.

Magnetic flux controllers are materials other than the copper coil that are used in induction systems to alter the flow of the magnetic field. This article describes the effects of magnetic flux controllers on common coil styles, namely, outer diameter coils, inner diameter coils, and linear coils. It provides information on the role of magnetic flux controllers for whole-body and local area mass-heating applications, continuous induction tube welding, seam-annealing inductors, and various induction melting systems, namely, channel-type, crucible-type, and cold crucible systems. The article also describes the benefits of the flux controllers for induction heat treating processes such as single-shot and scanning.

Melting with induction crucible furnaces (ICFs) is a well-established and reliable technology, and their maintenance must be performed at regularly scheduled intervals to ensure safe operation. This article discusses monitoring of the refractory lining, and presents an overview of the various wear-indication methods, namely, manual checks, ground leakage indication, evaluation of electrical values of the furnace, and temperature measurement. It also presents the working principle, physical restrictions, limitations, and remarks on these methods.

This article provides a detailed discussion on the components of a high-performance induction crucible furnace system, namely, furnace body, power supply, and peripheral components. The furnace body contains refractory lining, coil and transformer yokes, and tilting frame and furnace cover. The power supply consists of the following: transformers, frequency converters, capacitor banks, and power cables and furnace coils. The peripheral components comprise recooling device, charging system, and skimming devices. The article also presents a three-dimensional representation of the induction crucible furnace system.

Induction heating for glass melting is an alternative to resistance heating element furnaces. This article provides information on the basics of glass fabrication process. It focuses on crucible melt furnace for small-scale glass melting and the induction melting process. It also describes induction glass forming (forming from the melt) and glass forming by induction heating (post-melt). The article compares the benefits of using induction heating and refractory-lined resistance heating.

In the metal producing and processing industries, induction melting and holding has found wide acceptance. This article provides a detailed account of the physical principles of induction melting processes. It discusses the fundamental principles and components of induction furnaces such as induction crucible furnaces, channel induction furnaces, and induction furnaces with cold crucible. The article describes the advantages, applications, and fundamental principles of induction skull melting. It also provides information on the various specific application-designed induction melting installations.

The crucible induction furnace is growing as an alternative melting unit to the cupola furnace due to its low specific power and reduced power consumption during solid melting material. This article details the process engineering features of the crucible induction furnace. It discusses the various processes involved in melting, holding, and pouring of liquid melt in crucible induction furnaces wherein the holding operation is carried out in channel furnace and pouring operation in pressure-actuated pouring furnaces. The article examines the behavior of furnace refractory lining to defects such as erosion, infiltration, crack formation, and clogging, and the corresponding preventive measures to avoid the occurrence of these defects. It elucidates the overall furnace operations, including commissioning, operational procedures, automatic process monitoring, inductor change, and dealing with disturbances.

Skull melting refers to the use of furnaces with water-cooled crucibles that freeze a solid “skull” of material on the crucible wall. This article describes the basic components, operating pressure, advantages, and applications of vacuum arc and induction skull melting furnaces.

Aluminum fluxing is a step in obtaining clean molten metal by preventing excessive oxide formation, removing nonmetallic inclusions from the melt, and preventing and/or removing oxide buildup on furnace walls. This article discusses the solid fluxes and gas fluxes used in foundries. It reviews the classification of solid fluxes depending on their use and function at the foundry operation. These include cover fluxes, drossing fluxes, cleaning fluxes, and furnace wall cleaner fluxes. The article also examines the operational practices and applications of the flux injection in the foundries. It describes the applications of the aluminum fluxing such as crucible furnaces, transfer ladles, reverberatory furnaces, and holding/casting furnaces.

This article describes the casting characteristics and practices of copper and copper alloys. It discusses the melting and melt control of copper alloys, including various melt treatments to improve melt quality. These treatments include fluxing and metal refining, degassing, deoxidation, grain refining, and filtration. The article provides a discussion on these melt treatments for group I to III alloys. It describes the three categories of furnaces for melting copper casting alloys: crucible furnaces, open-flame furnaces, and induction furnaces. The article explains the important factors that influence the selection of a casting method. It discusses the production of copper alloy castings. The article concludes with information on the gating and feeding systems used in production of copper alloy castings.

This article discusses the design parameters, operation, characteristics, properties, and advantages of various types of crucible furnaces, such as stationary, tilting, and movable furnaces. It also provides information on the application of the crucible furnaces.

This article discusses various molten-metal treatments, namely fluxing, degassing, and molten-metal filtration. It focuses on various molten-metal handling systems for transporting, holding, or delivering molten metal to the mold/die system. These include launders, tundishes, holding furnaces or transport crucibles, molten-metal transfer pumps, teeming ladles, and dosing and pouring furnaces.