This chapter highlights the different melting, holding, and dosing furnaces that are available for the alternative casting processes used for the production of aluminum castings. Melting furnaces are grouped into four broad categories: crucible furnaces; reverberatory furnaces (or reverbs); stack melting furnaces (also called stack melters), tower melting furnaces, or jet melting furnaces; and electric coreless induction furnaces are detailed in this chapter. Factors influencing the choice of the melting, holding, and dozing equipment are presented. Equipment for recycling machined chips is also addressed.

This chapter describes the processes involved in alloy production, including melting, casting, solidification, and fabrication. It discusses the effects of alloying on solidification, the formation of solidification structures, supercooling, nucleation, and grain growth. It describes the design and operation of melting furnaces as well as melting practices and the role of fluxing. It also discusses casting methods, nonferrous casting alloys, and atomization processes used to make metal powders.

This chapter discusses the melting and conversion of superalloys and the solidification challenges they present. Superalloys have high solute content which can lead to untreatable defects if they solidify too slowly. These defects, called freckles, are highly detrimental to fatigue life. The chapter explains how and why freckles form as well as how they can be prevented. It describes the criteria for selecting the proper melting method for specific alloys based on melt segregation and chemistry requirements. It compares standard processes, including electric arc furnace/argon oxygen decarburization melting, vacuum induction melting, vacuum arc remelting, and electroslag remelting. It also addresses related issues such as consumable remelt quality, control anomalies, melt pool characteristics, and melt-related defects, and includes a section that discusses the processes involved in converting cast ingots into mill products.

This chapter covers the practices and procedures used for shape casting metals and alloys. It begins with a review of the factors that influence solidification and contribute to the formation of casting defects. It then describes basic melting methods, including induction, cupola, crucible, and vacuum melting, and common casting techniques such as sand casting, plaster and shell casting, evaporative pattern casting, investment casting, permanent mold casting, cold and hot chamber die casting, squeeze casting, semisolid metal processing, and centrifugal casting.

The low-pressure permanent molding (LPPM) and semipermanent molding (LPSPM) processes are versatile, and they meet the quality requirements of a variety of high-integrity, large-sized, and thin-walled aluminum castings for various industries. This chapter presents the major features, operation sequence, advantages, and applications of LPPM, LPSPM, and counter-pressure casting.

The melting furnace is a critically important piece of equipment in a foundry; it influences the balance between the metal required by molding machines and the melting capacity. This chapter presents the features, types, advantages, and applications of furnaces suitable for iron and steels such as cupolas, induction furnaces, and arc furnaces.

Electromagnetic induction, or simply "induction," is a method of heating electrically conductive materials such as metals. It is commonly used for heating workpieces prior to metalworking and in heat treating, welding, and melting. This technique also lends itself to various other applications involving packaging and curing of resins and coatings. This chapter provides a brief review of the history of induction heating and discusses its applications and advantages.

Increasing growth of high-pressure cold spraying applications on the industrial scale have forced global powder producers to face this challenge and develop specific powders for cold spray applications. This chapter provides information on the properties, classification, characteristics, manufacturing, and procedures for packaging of powders specific to cold spray applications.

This chapter provides a detailed account of the development of tool steel technology. It begins with a record of steelmaking in ancient and medieval times. The crucible melting process involved in making steel is then discussed. This is followed by a description of the increasing use of alloys for tool steels. The chapter provides information on the research investigations into the metallurgy of high-speed tool steels at MIT, Union Carbide, and Carbon Laboratories. The major research effort involved in substituting molybdenum for tungsten in high-speed tool steels is discussed. The chapter also describes the role of the Cleveland Twist Drill Company as the first adopter of molybdenum high-speed steel. It ends with a discussion on the advanced work on high-speed steels by Swedish researchers.