JP2016026876A - Ingot casting device and ingot casting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ingot casting device and an ingot casting method capable of producing a plurality of ingots with fewer oxide inclusions and having a uniform shape at low cost and stably.SOLUTION: An ingot casting device 1 casting ingots by pouring a molten metal 40 obtained by heating and melting a metal raw material 50 in a material reservoir 10 into a mold body 20 from teeming ports 12 of the material reservoir 10, is configured so that the mold body 20 is separated into a plurality of ingot casting chambers 24 by a plurality of partition plates 30, the partition plates 30 communicate with one another by through-holes 31, and the molten metal 40 is poured via the through-holes 31, thereby allowing levels of the molten metal 40 of the respective ingot casting chambers 24 to be made uniform.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an ingot casting apparatus and a casting method apparatus that are capable of stably producing a plurality of ingots having a uniform oxide shape and a small shape at a low cost.

  When compound semiconductors such as bismuth tellurium and indium antimony are synthesized in large quantities at the mass production level, it is necessary to prepare a large number of ingots formed in a certain shape in advance in order to shorten the time for weighing the metal raw material to be input. Is done. In order to manufacture the ingot having a fixed shape, it is necessary to provide a process such as casting. However, in some steps of manufacturing the ingot, the oxide may be involved or the shape may vary. In the case of such an ingot, shortening of the weighing time cannot be sufficiently achieved.

Further, when taking out a plurality of ingots obtained by melting and casting metal raw materials from the mold, the following problems may occur.
(1) Since the oxide adhering to the metal raw material is caught in the ingot, the oxygen concentration in the ingot does not decrease. If there is an oxygen concentrating part in part, time and labor are required because it is necessary to remove it in a later process.
(2) When the ingot is taken out from the mold, a part of the ingot is fixed to the mold surface, and in the case of a brittle metal, the ingot may be damaged.
(3) The shape of the ingot after multiple castings varies.

  Regarding the reduction of impurities, for example, there is a purification method and a purification apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, but in this invention, impurities are reduced by heating the metal in a mold in a vacuum.

JP 2002-212647 A

  However, according to the conventional purification method and the purification apparatus of Patent Document 1, although reduction of impurities is eliminated, there is a problem that other problems such as variation in shape and damage as described above cannot be solved. In addition, if the surface of the ingot is shaped by polishing the surface of the ingot to reduce the variation in shape, the worker may suck the generated polishing powder. Depending on the metal material, a harmful substance may be absorbed into the body. There is also a safety problem.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an ingot casting apparatus and a casting method capable of stably producing a plurality of ingots with less oxide entanglement, uniform shape and less damage at low cost. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 1 is an ingot casting apparatus for casting a plurality of ingots by melting a metal raw material, the raw material containing the metal raw material for casting into the ingot A reservoir, a mold body provided with a concave ingot forming part for forming a plurality of ingots, and a removable partition plate for dividing the ingot forming part into a plurality of partition parts, and at the bottom of the raw material reservoir, One or more pouring ports are provided for pouring molten metal obtained by heating and melting the metal raw material into the ingot forming part, and the molten metal poured from the raw material reservoir overflows at a predetermined height above the mold body. The discharge part to be formed was formed, and the partition plate was provided with a through-hole for uniformly holding the molten metal level of the molten metal poured into each partition part divided by the partition plate And features.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ingot casting apparatus according to the first aspect, the partition plate is tapered so that the width gradually increases upward, and is parallel to the partition plate. The inner walls on both sides of the ingot forming part are tapered like the taper provided on the partition plate.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ingot casting apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the pouring port is configured to pour molten metal into each of the compartments divided by the partition plate. It is arranged so that hot water is possible.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ingot casting apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, each partition section divided by the partition plate has the same shape. In addition, each partition portion is characterized in that the depth of each partition portion is formed shallow so that the solidification of the molten metal proceeds uniformly by reducing the temperature difference in the melt during cooling.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 5 is the ingot casting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the longest side of the ingot casting chamber which is each partition formed by partitioning with a partition plate. The length of is 4.0 to 10.0 times the depth.

  To achieve the above object, the present invention according to claim 6 is an ingot casting method for casting a plurality of ingots by melting a metal raw material, the metal raw material being stored in a raw material reservoir, and a reducing atmosphere or One or a plurality of steps provided at the bottom of the raw material reservoir in each partition section separated by a step of heating and melting in an inert atmosphere and a partition plate detachably disposed in a concave ingot forming section provided in the mold body A step of pouring molten metal heated and melted through the pouring port, a step of uniformizing the molten metal level flowing into each partitioning portion through the through holes formed in the partition plate, and an ingot forming portion A step of overflowing the poured molten metal at a predetermined height through a discharge part provided at the upper part of the mold body, and a step of cooling and solidifying the molten metal uniformly poured into each partition part. Characterized in that it is constituted and a flop.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the ingot casting method according to the sixth aspect, the partition plate is tapered so as to gradually increase in width upward, and parallel to the partition plate. The inner walls on both sides of the ingot forming part are tapered similar to the taper provided on the partition plate, and the cooled and solidified metal is taken out from the mold body together with the partition plate, and then a plurality of metal parts in each partition part are separated from each other. It is characterized by obtaining an ingot.

  According to the ingot casting apparatus and the casting method according to the present invention, the molten metal obtained by heating and melting the metal raw material for casting into the ingot is caused to flow into the ingot casting chamber by the plurality of partition plates, and the molten metal flowing into the ingot casting chamber is Since the through hole provided at the predetermined height position of the partition plate is moved between the ingot casting chambers and overflowed at the predetermined height, the oxide contained in the molten metal is the upper part of the molten metal. The ingot can be manufactured with less oxide entrainment because it is removed from the ingot casting chamber by the storage chamber and overflow. And since the shape of an ingot casting chamber is constant, there exists an effect that many ingots with a uniform shape can be manufactured stably at low cost. Furthermore, there is an effect that it is possible to shorten the weighing time when the alloy is synthesized using the manufactured ingot.

  Furthermore, since the ingot casting chamber is formed in a taper shape that expands toward the upper side, even if the formed ingot is a brittle metal, it can be easily taken out without being damaged. In addition, since the ingot casting chamber is made shallow, there is an effect that cooling of the manufactured ingot can be made uniform.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the ingot casting apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the casting_mold | template main body which comprises the ingot casting apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which mounted | wore the mold main body shown in FIG. 2 with the partition plate. It is a front view which shows the through-hole of a partition plate. It is a flowchart which shows the process of an ingot casting method.

  Hereinafter, an ingot casting apparatus and a casting method according to the present invention will be described in detail based on a preferred embodiment. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an ingot casting apparatus according to the present invention.

[Configuration of ingot casting machine]
As shown in FIG. 1, the ingot casting apparatus 1 melts and casts metal in a reducing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere. As a rough outline, a raw material reservoir 10 in which a metal raw material 50 is previously stored, And a mold body 20 for forming a plurality of ingots 60 by pouring a molten metal 40 in which the metal raw material 50 is melted in the raw material reservoir 10, and the mold body 20 has a predetermined shape. A plurality of partition plates 30, 30 forming ingot casting chambers 24, 24 which are a plurality of partition portions for casting into a glass are detachably arranged. The raw material reservoir 10, the mold body 20, and the partition plates 30 and 30 are made of high-purity carbon in order to prevent contamination of the ingot 60. 1 shows a configuration in which the raw material reservoir 10 and the mold body 20 are vertically arranged at a predetermined interval. However, the raw material reservoir 10 and the mold body 20 are detachably integrated in a state where they are closer to each other or in contact with each other. It is good also as such a structure.

  The raw material reservoir 10 has a substantially box shape in which a concave portion 11 for accommodating the metal raw material 50 is formed, and a plurality of pieces for pouring a molten metal 40 obtained by heating and melting the metal raw material 50 into the mold body 20 at the bottom. No. 12 and 12 are provided. In the present embodiment, the pouring ports 12 and 12 are provided so as to correspond to the ingot casting chambers 24 and 24 that are the partition portions partitioned by the partition plates 30 and 30 described later (six in FIG. 1). . Since the partition plates 30 and 30 are provided with through holes 31 to be described later, the molten metal 40 can be uniformly poured into the ingot casting chambers 24 and 24 if at least one pouring port 12 is provided. . Of course, it is possible to provide the pouring gates 12 in more than the number of the ingot casting chambers 24, 24. Here, since the molten metal 40 cooled and solidified becomes the ingot 60 in FIG. 1, the “molten metal 40” and the “ingot 60” with respect to the metal raw material 50 that has been heated and melted and poured into the respective compartments in FIG. Both symbols are attached.

  The mold body 20 includes a concave ingot forming portion 21, and has a substantially box shape like the raw material reservoir 10. The upper wall surface of the ingot forming part 21 is provided with a plurality of discharge parts 22, 22 made up of through holes or troughs for discharging the molten metal 40 overflowed from the ingot forming part 21 to the outside. The discharge portions 22 and 22 are provided in the upper portions of the ingot casting chambers 24 and 24, respectively. The molten metal 40 overflowed through the discharge portions 22 and 22 is stored in a drainage portion 25 formed around the mold body 20.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of insertion grooves 23 and 23 are provided at regular intervals on the bottom surface of the ingot forming portion 21 of the mold body 20 for positioning and standing the partition plates 30 and 30. The insertion grooves 23 and 23 are also provided so as to face the inner surface of the ingot forming portion 21. In addition, the insertion grooves 23 and 23 can be provided not only in the bottom part of the casting mold body 20 but only on the opposite side surfaces as shown in FIG. Further, the ingot forming portion 21 is set to have a relatively shallow depth. By adopting such a shape, the opening area of the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 is widened, so that the temperature difference when cooling the ingots 60 cast in the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 is reduced and solidification is achieved. The ingot 60 can be made to proceed uniformly and the shape of the ingot 60 can be stabilized without distortion. For example, the length of the longest side of the ingot casting chambers 24, 24, which are the partition portions formed by being partitioned by the partition plates 30, 30, is 4.0 to 10.0 times the depth. It has become. In addition, when the depth of the ingot forming part 21 is set deep, the temperature difference becomes large with respect to the solidification direction (depth direction), and the solidification part of the ingot 60 undergoes solid shrinkage due to solidification, resulting in voids. (Voids or burrows) are generated, causing shape abnormalities and weight variations.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the partition plates 30, 30 are detachably fitted into fitting grooves 23, 23 formed on the inner side surface and the bottom surface of the ingot forming portion 21 of the mold body 20, so that the ingot forming portion is detachable. The ingot casting chambers 24 and 24 are formed by partitioning the inside of the chamber 21 into respective partition portions. As shown in FIG. 1, the partition plates 30 and 30 are tapered so that the width (= thickness) becomes gradually narrower upward. The inner surface of the ingot forming portion 21 parallel to the partition plates 30 and 30 is also provided with the same inclination as the taper of the partition plates 30 and 30. Thereby, the ingot 60 cast in any of the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 is formed in the same shape. By providing the taper, the ingot 60 can be easily taken out from the mold body 20.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each partition plate 30, 30 has a through hole 31 that penetrates in a horizontal direction at a predetermined location. The molten metal 40 can be poured evenly into the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 through the through holes 31. The size of the through hole 31 is such that when the cast ingots 60, 60 are taken out and the ingots 60, 60 are separated from each other, they can be easily separated without damaging the outer shape of the ingot 60. Is required to have such a size and shape that the molten metal 40 can be moved between the ingot casting chambers 24, 24. As the size of the through hole 31, for example, the length in the vertical direction is 0.3 to 1.0 mm, the length in the horizontal method is about 1.0 to 3.0 mm, and a preferable combination is 0.5 mm in length and 2 in width. In the case of a square or ellipse of about 0.0 mm, the ingots 60 and 60 can be easily taken out and separated, and the working efficiency can be improved. In addition, the cross-sectional shape of the through holes 31, 31 may be a cross-sectional shape that can be easily broken, such as a circle, an ellipse, a circle, a triangle, a polygon, or a V-shape.

[Ingot casting method]
Next, the ingot casting method according to the present invention will be described together with the operation of the ingot casting apparatus 1 described above. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing each step of the ingot casting method.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, the mold body 20 is disposed above the material reservoir 10, and a predetermined amount of the metal material 50 is accommodated in the recess 11. And the ingot casting apparatus 1 which accommodated the metal raw material 50 is accommodated in the heating furnace (for example, resistance heating furnace) which is not shown in figure. Then, after making the atmosphere in the heating furnace a reducing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere, the metal raw material 50 is melted by heating to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the metal raw material 50. The molten metal raw material 50 becomes molten metal 40 and is poured into the ingot forming portion 21 of the mold body 20 through the pouring ports 12 and 12. (Step S1).

  Since the oxide generated when the metal raw material 50 is melted floats up in the raw material reservoir 10 above the molten metal 40, the clean lower molten metal 40 with little oxide falls to the mold body 20 through the pouring ports 12, 12. The ingot forming part 21 is gradually stored in the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 partitioned by the partition plates 30, 30 (step S2).

  In the ingot forming part 21, the poured molten metal 40 is stored in the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 which are the respective partition parts partitioned by the partition plates 30, 30. The partition plates 30, 30 have through holes 31. Since it is provided, the molten metal 40 flows from the ingot casting chamber 24 having a high level of the molten metal 40 into the adjacent ingot casting chamber 24 having a low level of the molten metal 40 through the through hole 31. As a result, the level of the molten metal 40 in each ingot casting chamber 24, 24 can be made uniform in each ingot casting chamber 24, 24 (step S3).

  Further, when the molten metal 40 is poured, the level of the molten metal reaches the discharge portions 22, 22, so that the upper layer of the melt 40 overflows to the drainage portion 25 via the discharge portions 22, 22, and the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 The liquid level is made uniform at a predetermined height. Further, since the oxide floating on the upper layer side of the molten metal 40 is discharged to the drainage part 25 by overflow, it is possible to prevent the oxide film from adhering to the formed ingot 60 (step S4).

  Thereafter, the whole is cooled to solidify the molten metal 40 in each ingot casting chamber 24, 24 (step S5). Then, after separating the raw material reservoir 10 and the mold body 20, the ingots 60 and 60 formed in the ingot casting chambers 24 and 24 of the mold body 20 are taken out by a dedicated device or manually (step S6). When the ingot 60 is taken out, the partition plates 30 and 30 are provided with a taper so as to be narrowed upward, and a predetermined taper is also provided on a predetermined inner surface of the ingot forming portion 21. Even when the ingots 60 and 60 formed by solidifying the molten metal 40 in the through holes 31 and 31 of the 30 are connected, the entire metal 50 solidified together with the partition plates 30 and 30 is ingot-formed portion 21. Thus, the ingot 60 can be easily taken out without being damaged. And it can take out easily, without damaging each ingot 60,60 by removing the partition plates 30,30, breaking down the ingot 60 solidified in the through-holes 31,31. Thus, casting of the ingot 60 is completed. The extracted ingot 60 is stored in a predetermined storage location.

  Next, the Example which cast the ingot 60 using the ingot casting apparatus 1 mentioned above is described. The present inventors used the ingot casting apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 to 17 (bottom width) × 17 (height) × 110 (length) mm from a 4N-Te metal raw material having a shape of 50 × 45 × 35 mm. The tape-shaped Te ingot was melt cast.

  First, about 500 g of 4N-Te block was put into the raw material reservoir 10 and set inside a heating furnace (here, a thermal resistance furnace). After evacuating the inside of the furnace, 5N hydrogen gas was allowed to flow for 15 minutes to sufficiently replace the atmosphere in the furnace with hydrogen, and then the temperature was raised to 650 ° C. at a rate of 10 ° C./min. Holding at 650 ° C. for about 60 minutes, the Te block melts, the molten metal 40 passes through the pouring ports 12, 12, is poured into the ingot forming part 21 of the mold body 20, and the molten metal 40 is poured into each ingot casting chamber 24, 24 evenly stored. Then, after overflowing a part of the molten metal 40 from the discharge portions 22 and 22 to the drainage portion 25, the heater power source of the thermal resistance furnace is turned off to perform furnace dredging, and the furnace temperature is lowered to 100 ° C. or less. The furnace atmosphere was switched from hydrogen gas to Ar gas, and the mold was taken out into the atmosphere.

  And the ingot 60 solidified in the ingot formation part 21 was removed from the casting_mold | template main body 20 with the partition plates 30 and 30, and the ingot 60 formed in each ingot casting chamber 24 and 24 was taken out. Thereby, the six ingots 60 could be easily taken out without damaging the ingots 60. The variation in weight of the six ingots 60 is within 0.4 mm in standard deviation, and a value with very little variation is obtained. As for the oxygen concentration, when a 5 mm square sample was cut out from the upper part of the ingot 60 and subjected to gas analysis by the LECO method, all were within 20 ppm.

  As described above, according to the ingot casting apparatus and the casting method according to the present invention, the molten metal 40 is poured from the raw material reservoir 10 into the ingot casting chambers 24, 24, and the through holes 31, 31 provided in the partition plates 30, 30 are used. The ingot casting chambers 24, 24 are made uniform with the liquid level of the molten metal 40, and the upper layer portion of the molten metal 40 is overflowed through the discharge portions 22, 22, thereby preventing the entrainment of oxides. The height of the molten metal 40 in the casting chambers 24, 24 can be made uniform. Further, since the partition plates 30 and 30 can be taken out from the mold body 20, the entire ingot 60 solidified in the ingot forming portion 21 can be easily taken out and then separated into the individual ingots 60 and 60. Even if the ingot 60 is connected by the molten metal 40 solidified in the through-hole 31, the ingots 60 and 60 can be easily folded without being damaged. As a result, it is possible to stably produce a large number of ingots 60 having a uniform oxide shape and a small shape at a low cost.

  Furthermore, since the depth of the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 is reduced, the molten metal 40 in the ingot casting chambers 24, 24 can be uniformly cooled without unevenness, and the ingot 60 having a stable shape can be formed. There is.

  As described above, the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims, Needless to say, various modifications and changes are possible.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ingot casting apparatus 10 Raw material reservoir 11 Recessed part 12 Pouring port 20 Mold body 21 Ingot forming part 22 Discharge part 23 Insertion groove 24 Ingot casting chamber 25 Drainage part 30 Partition plate 31 Through hole 40 Molten metal 50 Raw material 60 Ingot

Claims (7)

An ingot casting device for casting a plurality of ingots by melting a metal raw material,
A raw material reservoir for storing a metal raw material for casting into an ingot;
A mold body provided with a concave ingot forming portion for forming a plurality of ingots;
A removable partition plate that divides the ingot forming part into a plurality of partition parts,
With
At the bottom of the raw material reservoir, one or a plurality of pouring holes for pouring molten metal obtained by heating and melting the metal raw material into the ingot forming part is provided,
In the upper part of the mold body, a discharge part is formed for overflowing the molten metal poured from the raw material reservoir at a predetermined height,
The partition plate is provided with a through-hole for uniformly holding the molten metal surface level of the molten metal poured into each partition section partitioned by the partition plate.
An ingot casting apparatus. In the ingot casting apparatus according to claim 1,
The partition plate has a tapered shape that gradually increases in width upward.
The inner walls on both sides of the ingot forming part parallel to the partition plate are tapered similar to the taper provided on the partition plate,
An ingot casting apparatus. In the ingot casting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The ingot casting apparatus, wherein the pouring port is arranged so as to be able to pour the molten metal into each partition section divided by the partition plate. In the ingot casting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Each partition section divided by the partition plate has the same shape, and each partition section reduces the temperature difference in the melt during cooling so that solidification of the melt progresses uniformly. An ingot casting apparatus characterized in that the partition portion is formed with a shallow depth. In the ingot casting apparatus according to claim 4,
An ingot casting apparatus characterized in that the length of the longest side of the ingot casting chamber, which is each section formed by partitioning with a partition plate, is 4.0 to 10.0 times the depth. An ingot casting method for casting a plurality of ingots by melting a metal raw material,
Storing a metal raw material in a raw material reservoir and heating and melting in a reducing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere;
A molten metal heated and melted via one or a plurality of pouring holes provided at the bottom of the raw material reservoir is divided into partition sections detachably arranged in a concave ingot forming section provided in the mold body. A step of pouring,
Uniformizing the surface level of the molten metal flowing into each partition through the through holes formed in the partition plate;
Overflowing the molten metal poured into the ingot forming part at a predetermined height through a discharge part provided at the upper part of the mold body;
A step of cooling and solidifying the molten metal uniformly poured into each compartment; and
An ingot casting method comprising: In the ingot casting method according to claim 6,
The partition plate is tapered so as to gradually increase in width upward, and the inner walls on both sides of the ingot forming portion parallel to the partition plate are tapered similar to the taper provided on the partition plate. An ingot casting method, wherein a plurality of ingots are obtained by taking out the solidified metal together with the partition plate from the mold body, and then separating the metal in each partition part.

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