Metal ingot producers

Table 4.9. Major lithium metal ingot producers (technical and battery grade)...

Table 4.46. Nameplate capacity (2003) of titanium metal ingot producers worldwide...

Rolling mills produce two of the more important forms in which steel is sold— rods and sheets. Rods are the source materials for steel wire, construction materials (i.e., rebar and beams), steel coils, and so on. Automobile manufacturers require large shipments of steel sheets wound in large rolls. The rolling mills process hot metal to make these products, which can lead to oxidation of the metal. Ingots of the metal are sent through successively narrower rollers until the desired thickness (or gauge) of the metal is achieved. Successive rollers will produce rods of various shapes and diameters, or sheets that vary from plate thicknesses to thin foils. 

The beryllium hydroxide is calcined to produce alloy-grade beryllium oxide. These pellets are mixed with copper chips and, in the presence of carbon and high arc furnace temperatures, the beryllium dissolves into the copper. Copper (4%)-beryllium ingots are initially produced which are mixed with copper and other metals to produce the various alloys required. These alloys can be hot-rolled to produce strip forms, or rod and tubes can be produced by extrusion. 

In the y.inr. metal melting process, the volume of molten zinc metal is continuously controlled, and a relatively small sized furnace can feed a volume equal to a large sized one. A fixed amount of molten zinc is fed constantly and is transferred to the next process automatically. An automated and continuous process is applied where certain alloying elements are melted and mixed with molten zinc metal to produce zinc alloy. In this process, the molten zinc alloy is poured into a mold through an automatic weigher. Also, the dross form the molten zinc alloy is skimmed and the molten alloy is cooled. The ingot is then released from the mold automatically. 

In the 10-llth centuries the secret of zinc production was lost in Europe and zinc had to be imported from India and China. It is believed that China was the first country to produce zinc on a large scale. The production process was extremely simple. Earthenware filled with calamine were tightly closed and piled into a pyramid. The gaps between the pots were filled with coal and the pots were heated to red heat. After cooling the pots, where zinc vapours condensed, were broken and metal ingots were extracted. 

Ingots of the metal were produced by the French chemist A. Moissan who melted it in an electric furnace invented by him in which a very high temperature could be attained. The scientist produced the first ingot in May, 1896, and gave it to Becquerel. With the aid of the sample A. Becquerel established that radioactivity is a property of the elemental uranium. This property attracted everybody s attention to uranium for the first time. 

Casting of zinc metal ingots. The stripped zinc cathode plates are melted in an induction furnace and the metal is cast into different shapes and sent to the consumers. Ammonium chloride (NH Cl) is used as a fluxing agent. The dross, mainly zinc oxide and small amounts of zinc chloride (ZnCy, is recycled to the roaster. The zinc dust needed in the purification is also produced by atomization of molten zinc with jets of dry air. 

Metal ingots called blooms, slabs or billets, used to load the mill. Blooms are used to produce structural sections (beams, channels, rail sections), slabs are used to produce flat products such as sheets and plate, and billets are rolled into rods and bars using shaped rolls. 

The cells are fed semicontinuously and produce both magnesium and chlorine (see Alkali and chlorine products). The magnesium collects in a chamber at the front of the cell, and is periodically pumped into a cmcible car. The cmcible is conveyed to the cast house, where the molten metal is transferred to holding furnaces from which it is cast into ingots, or sent to alloying pots and then cast. The ingot molds are on continuous conveyors. 

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