Vacuum melting equipment and technologies for advanced materials

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to describe selected technologies and equipment for fabrication of advanced materials for different applications. Design/methodology/approach: The production of complex parts by the vacuum investment casting process has led to increased demands on equipment and processes. Highly automated machines and simple operation conditions are a must to achieve the required process efficiency and product quality. Vacuum melting, re-melting and casting technology has become an increasingly requirement for advanced materials which are used at high temperature, high stress applications such as for the aerospace and power turbine industries. Findings: Vacuum metallurgy is presently entering a new phase building on the experience gained from continuously refining established processes and developing new process combinations. Secondary vacuum processes such as melting and remelting, as well as casting and metal-powder technology, have led to high quality metallurgical products tailored to meet the ever-increasing demands imposed upon them. New processes are being developed that will yield improved quality and efficiency as well as the opportunity to produce entirely new products. Research limitations/implications: The cleanliness of specialty steels or superalloys produced by vacuum melting is much better than that attained by conventional processing methods, what means, that higher operating efficiencies can be obtained. Originality/value: A wide variety of process routes for vacuum processing are available, what will be in this paper as a short review presented.