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A device that significantly improves the quality of aluminium alloy ingots was created and patented by specialists from Belgorod State University. They conducted a research, which proved that when used in a tank for solidification, the patented device significantly reduces the content of oxides, slags and other impurities in the melt. As Damir Tagirov, the Director of the centre for collective use “BelSU Technologies and Materials”, explained, the so-called catching ring retains foreign substances formed during casting and prevents them from getting into the final product.

Today, the bar is set high on mechanical properties, physical and chemical characteristics of foundry products. As BelSU scientists explain, the performance parameters of metal products directly depend on the chemical composition of the original alloy ingots.

Aluminium is one of the most commonly used metals for durable products with low weight and high resistance to corrosion. Aluminium-based alloys are used almost everywhere: from food industry (for food foil, baking dishes and countertops) and construction industries (in individual structural elements and roofing) to motor car and aircraft industries.

During the production of aluminium alloy ingots, their components can react with atmospheric oxygen and form oxides. In every industry, the presence of those oxides in the final alloy product is regulated by strict standards.

BelSU scientists have developed and patented a device that gathers all unwanted impurities from the melt and prevents them from getting into the thick mass of the forming ingot. Besides, the proposed catching ring allows giving aluminium alloy ingots a better regular shape.

‘The advantage of the proposed device is that the catching ring is made of one piece, and it has a centering system with a wire spiral. It keeps inside the ring the floating particles of oxide, slag and other inclusions whose density is lower than the density of the melt. Such inclusions result from the contact between the melt and the air or fall on the melt’s surface in the crystallizer,’ said Damir Tagirov.

According to him, a one-piece ring with a nickel-chromium wire exerts pressure on the surface of the melt in the crystallizer, preventing splashes and ripples. It is beneficial for the formation of the metal alloy meniscus - the curve in the upper surface of a liquid close to the surface of the container or another solid object.

Damir Tagirov states that with the patented device reduces by 50-70% the content of oxide, slag and other inclusions in the ingot and help to form a smoother and a more even surface, thus providing ingots of a higher quality.

Unlike known analogues, the device created by the scientists and engineers from the centre for collective use of the Belgorod State National Research University has a higher structural strength and heat resistance at the temperature of aluminium alloy casting. The patented device has optimal heat capacity and it does not decrease the temperature of the melt, so the melt does not cool neither does it crystalize nor sticks to the catching device.

The project on creation of this device for capturing oxide, slag and other inclusions in the mass and on the surface of aluminium ingots received support from the state programme for strategic academic leadership "Priority-2030".