This article discusses the principle, coil design, types and operation of a vacuum induction furnace. It describes the operation parameters that should be considered during the functioning of the induction furnace.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An induction channel furnace consists of a tiltable furnace vessel with refractory lining onto which an inductor or several inductors are flange mounted. This article includes a discussion on the design for holding and dosed-pouring of the iron melts, design for melting the materials, and refractory lining of furnace vessel. It provides information on the structural changes and refractory lining of channel inductors. The article also includes a discussion on power supplies deployed in channel inductor furnaces: line-frequency power supply for melting iron, and converter power supply for melting nonferrous metals. It concludes with an overview of the inductor cooling circuit.

There are a wide variety of furnace types and designs for melting aluminum. This article discusses the various types of furnaces, including gas reverberatory furnaces, crucible furnaces, and induction melting furnaces. It describes the classification of solid fluxes: cover fluxes, drossing fluxes, cleaning fluxes, and furnace wall cleaner fluxes. The article reviews the basic considerations in proper flux selection and fluxing practices. It explains the basic principles of degassing and discusses the degassing of wrought aluminum alloys. The article describes filtration in wrought aluminum production and in shape casting. It also reviews grain refinement in aluminum-silicon casting alloys, aluminum-silicon-copper casting alloys, aluminum-copper casting alloys, aluminum-zinc-magnesium casting alloys, and aluminum-magnesium casting alloys. The article concludes with a discussion on aluminum-silicon modification.

This article describes the principles and classifications of induction furnaces. The classifications of induction furnaces are coreless and channel. The electromagnetic stirring action in these furnaces is reviewed. The article provides information on the various power supplies and water cooling systems for induction furnaces. Furnace operators can increase the power supply utilization by the use of mechanical skimmers. The article describes the various lining materials used in induction furnaces, namely, silica, alumina, and magnesia. The crucible wall scrapers, ramming mixes, and lining push-out device used in induction furnaces are also reviewed. The article concludes with a discussion on batch operation and tap-and-charge operation, two distinct ways of operating a coreless induction furnace.

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.

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.

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.

The melting process often includes refining and treating the metal. The choice of which type of melting to use depends on a number of factors: type of alloy being melted, the local cost of electric power, and local environmental regulations. This article discusses the principles, furnace types, charging practices of metal melting methods, namely induction melting, cupola melting, arc melting, crucible melting, reaction melting, and vacuum melting, and the refractories and charging practice of reverberatory furnaces. Molten metal treatment of steels and aluminum also is discussed in the article.

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.

Vacuum induction melting (VIM) is often done as a primary melting operation followed by secondary melting (remelting) operations. This article presents the process description of VIM and illustrates potential processing routes for products, which are cast from VIM ingots or electrodes. It describes the VIM refinement process, which includes the removal of trace elements, nitrogen and hydrogen degassing, and deoxidation. The article concludes with information on the production of nonferrous materials by VIM.

The historical use of induction heating relating to glass melting gives some insight into its use in today's glass manufacturing industry. A patent search on induction heating provides historical information about how induction heating was used in the glass melting industry, from both a direct fired or a susceptor/container approach. This article provides review of historical patents, following an introduction to conductivity in glass and electrical heating. The purpose is to show that induction heating has been and is being used in the glass melting industry.