The present disclosure concerns an apparatus suitable for smelting and separating metals in flexible oxido-reduction conditions. More particularly, it concerns an apparatus for smelting metallurgical charges comprising a bath furnace susceptible to contain a molten charge up to a determined level, characterized in that the furnace is equipped with: at least one non-transfer plasma torch for the generation of first hot gases; at least one oxygas burner for the generation of second hot gasses; and, submerged injectors for injecting said first and second hot gases below said determined level.

A tantalum or tantalum alloy which contains pure or substantially pure tantalum and at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt, Mo, W and Re to form a tantalum alloy that is resistant to aqueous corrosion. The invention also relates to the process of preparing the tantalum alloy.

A tantalum or tantalum alloy which contains pure or substantially pure tantalum and at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir, Pt, Mo, W and Re to form a tantalum alloy that is resistant to aqueous corrosion. The invention also relates to the process of preparing the tantalum alloy.

A method and an apparatus for producing metallic semi-finished products by means of remelting and/or remelt-alloying. Here, the material is melted selectively locally in a melting capillary in the material volume by means of high-energy, focused radiation, the melting capillary is moved through the material and the material is cooled down at a high cooling rate by means of a cooled heat sink, which is located close to the melting capillary and coupled to the material in a well heat-conductive manner.

In various embodiments, a metal alloy resistant to aqueous corrosion consists essentially of or consists of niobium with additions of tungsten, molybdenum, and one or both of ruthenium and palladium.

In various embodiments, a metal alloy resistant to aqueous corrosion consists essentially of or consists of niobium with additions of tungsten, molybdenum, and one or both of ruthenium and palladium.

A method for preparing high-purity nickel-based superalloy includes the steps of: performing electron beam smelting on small cylinders in a first water-cooled copper crucible after preheating an electron gun, and converging the beam to the edge of one side of the ingot; turning on the electron gun again after completely solidifying the ingot, the electron beam spot uniformly and slowly scanning a surface of the ingot from a side opposite to a final beam converging area of the ingot to the final beam converging area of the ingot to ensure that the alloy at a position scanned by the electron beam spot is completely melted, and stopping scanning once scanning to the final converging area of the ingot; casting the molten alloy in the first water-cooled copper crucible to the second water-cooled copper crucible; taking out the refined nickel-base superalloy after cooling down the electron beam melting furnace.

Provided is a titanium cast product made of commercially pure titanium, the titanium cast product being produced by electron-beam remelting or plasma arc melting, comprising: a melted and resolidified layer in a range of 1 mm or more in depth at a surface serving as a surface to be rolled, the melted and resolidified layer being obtained by adding one or more kinds of stabilizer elements to the surface and melting and resolidifying the surface. An average value of stabilizer element(s) concentration in a range of within 1 mm in depth is higher than stabilizer element(s) concentration in a base material by, in mass %, equal to or more than 0.08 mass % and equal to or less than 1.50 mass %. As the material containing the stabilizer element, powder, a chip, wire, or foil is used. As means for melting a surface layer, electron-beam heating and plasma arc heating are used.

An object of the present invention is to provide a molten ingot of a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy having a high material yield by suppressing a scattering phenomenon during heating and melting in a method for producing a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy. The method for producing a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy according to the present invention includes a preparing step of weighing a raw material that is partially or entirely of powder and, when the alloy is to be produced, mixing the weighed raw material to obtain a powder mixture, a molding step of molding and solidifying the prepared raw material to obtain molded bodies, a sintering step of sintering the molded bodies to obtain a sintered body, a melting step of melting the sintered body to produce a molten ingot, and a deformation processing step of processing the molten ingot. In the sintering step, the molded bodies are sintered in a stacked state to produce a sintered body as a joined body.

An object of the present invention is to provide a molten ingot of a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy having a high material yield by suppressing a scattering phenomenon during heating and melting in a method for producing a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy. The method for producing a platinum group metal or a platinum group-based alloy according to the present invention includes a preparing step of weighing a raw material that is partially or entirely of powder and, when the alloy is to be produced, mixing the weighed raw material to obtain a powder mixture, a molding step of molding and solidifying the prepared raw material to obtain molded bodies, a sintering step of sintering the molded bodies to obtain a sintered body, a melting step of melting the sintered body to produce a molten ingot, and a deformation processing step of processing the molten ingot. In the sintering step, the molded bodies are sintered in a stacked state to produce a sintered body as a joined body.