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Arc Casting. The interior of an arc casting furnace is shown. Arc casting has been employed for many years at ISU and Ames Laboratory, for preparing alloys and inter-metallic compounds for materials research. The molten metal in the center is zirconium, #40 on the periodic table. It has a melting point of 3,371°F (1,855°C). It is held on a copper hearth, copper melts at 1,984°F (1,085°C)! Why doesn't the Zr melt through the Cu? Answer: copper has a very high thermal conductivity. The Cu mold is water cooled from below which keeps the Cu from melting.
Submitted by: Trevor Riedemann, AMES LABORATORY OF US DOE on July 6, 2015
Tags: Ames Laboratory, Metals Development Building
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