This chapter discusses the processes, procedures, and equipment used in the production of iron, steel, aluminum, and titanium alloys. It describes the design and operation of melting and refining furnaces, including blast furnaces, basic oxygen and electric arc furnaces, vacuum induction melting furnaces, and electroslag and vacuum arc remelting furnaces. It also covers casting, rolling, and annealing procedures and describes the basic steps in aluminum and titanium production.

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.

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.

The detailed heating requirements for specific applications must be considered before construction and implementation of any induction heating process. These requirements may include considerations such as type of heating, throughput and heating time, workpiece material, peak temperature, and so forth. The major applications of induction technology include through heating, surface heating (for surface heat treatment), metal melting, welding, brazing, and soldering. This chapter summarizes the selection of equipment and related design considerations for these applications.

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 machinery and equipment required for rod and tube extrusion is determined by the specific extrusion process. This chapter provides a detailed description of the design requirements and principles of machinery and equipment for direct and indirect hot extrusion. It then covers the presses and auxiliary equipment for tube extrusion, induction furnaces for billet processing, handling systems for copper and aluminum alloy products, extrusion cooling systems, and age-hardening ovens. Next, the chapter describes the principles and applications of equipment for the production of aluminum and copper billets. Then, it focuses on process control in both direct and indirect hot extrusion of aluminum alloys without lubrication. The chapter describes the technology of electrical and electronic controls in the extrusion process. It ends with a discussion on the factors that influence the productivity and quality of the products in the extrusion process and methods for process optimization.

This chapter describes a process for recovering beryllium from industrial waste associated with beryllium-copper production. It presents several detailed flowsheets along with typical operating parameters such as flow rates, chemical concentrations, particle sizes, and compositional ranges.

This chapter discusses the advantages, limitations, and applications of various aluminum casting processes, namely green sand casting process, air set or no-bake molding process, vacuum molding process, evaporative foam casting process, and die casting process. The processes covered also include gravity permanent molding, low-pressure permanent molding, counter pressure, squeeze casting, investment casting, rapid prototype casting, cast forge hybrid, and semisolid metal processes.

This chapter describes various aspects of the billet making process and how they affect the quality of aluminum extrusions. It begins with an overview of the direct-chill continuous casting technique and its advantages over other methods, particularly for hard aluminum alloys. It then discusses the influence of casting variables, including pouring temperature and cooling rate, and operating considerations such as the make-up of charge materials, fluxing and degassing procedures, and grain refining. The chapter also provides information on vertical and horizontal casting systems, billet homogenization, and the cause of casting defects, including cracking and splitting, segregation, porosity, and grain growth.

This chapter discusses the rise of steel minimills in the late 1960s through the leadership of F. Kenneth Iverson and Gerald Heffernan. The discussion covers the development of processes for flat products, flanged beams, and railroad rails. The chapter also covers the growth of the minimill industry along with the consolidation of the industry into large corporations. The chapter ends by providing information on novel processes developed for making iron.

Casting is the most economical processing route for producing titanium parts, and unlike most metals, the properties of cast titanium are on par with those of wrought. This chapter covers titanium melting and casting practices -- including vacuum arc remelting, consumable electrode arc melting, electron beam hearth melting, rammed graphite mold casting, sand casting, investment casting, hot isostatic pressing, weld repair, and heat treatment -- along with related equipment, process challenges, and achievable properties and microstructures. It also explains how titanium parts are produced from powders and how the different methods compare with each other and with conventional production techniques. The methods covered include powder injection molding, spray forming, additive manufacturing, blended elemental processing, and rapid solidification.

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.

Stainless steel powders are usually made by water or gas atomization. This chapter describes both processes and the properties and characteristics of the powders they produce. It also discusses secondary processes, including drying, screening, annealing, and lubricating, and the effects of iron contamination on corrosion resistance.

This chapter describes the basic steps in the steelmaking process. It explains how iron is reduced from ore in the liquid state through the classic blast furnace process and in the solid state by direct reduction. It discusses the conversion of iron to steel and the technological advancements that led from open hearth steelmaking to basic oxygen processes and ultimately the electric arc furnace (EAF). It describes the versatility, efficiency, and scalability of the EAF process and its impact on recycling and sustainability. It explains how EAF refining and deoxidation practices have changed over time, and describes secondary refining processes such as degassing, homogenization, rinsing, and remelting.

Fireside corrosion can be a serious problem in oil-fired boilers and in refinery furnaces fired with low-grade fuels. This chapter provides an overview of fireside or oil-ash corrosion and the problems it can cause in utility power boilers and petrochemical refinery furnaces. It explains how oil-ash corrosion affects waterwalls, superheaters, and reheaters as well as metal tube supports and hangers.

Compared with other deformation processes used to produce semifinished products, the hot-working extrusion process has the advantage of applying pure compressive forces in all three force directions, enhancing workability. The available variations in the extrusion process enable a wide spectrum of materials to be extruded. This chapter focuses on the processes involved in the extrusion of semifinished products in various metals and their alloys, namely tin, lead, lead-base soft solders, tin-base soft solders, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, copper, titanium, zirconium, iron, nickel, and powder metals. It discusses their properties and applications as well as suitable equipment for extrusion. It further discusses the processes involved in the extrusion of semifinished products in exotic alloys and extrusion of semifinished products from metallic composite materials.