An apparatus for countergravity casting a metallic material, comprises: a crucible for holding melted metallic material; a casting chamber for containing a mold; a fill tube capable of extending into the crucible to communicate melted metallic material to the casting chamber; a gas source coupled a headspace of the melting vessel to allow the gas source to pressurize said headspace to establish a pressure differential to force the melted metallic material upwardly through said fill tube into said mold; and means for gettering sulfur.

An apparatus and method for filtering molten metal (M), such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy includes at least one ceramic foam filter or any other type of filtration media such as porous tube or alumina balls disposed in a receptacle (12) for the molten metal (M). A vibrator vibrates at least one of the filter, the receptacle (12) or the metal and may be used to induce priming, filtering and/or drainage of the filter. The vibrator may be retrofitted to an existing filter system and may be adjustable in frequency and amplitude. The vibration may be continuous over a given period or produced in a single shock.

A method of producing a steel foam component includes providing a mold defining a cavity. The method also includes positioning an insert within the cavity of the mold. The insert can be configured to form a generally uniform pattern of pores within the steel foam component, and in some cases occupies at least 20% of the cavity. The method can further include pouring molten steel into the cavity, cooling the molten steel into the steel foam component, and removing the steel foam component and the insert from the mold. Steel components having internal shapes corresponding to the insert(s) are also provided.

An apparatus and method for filtering molten metal, such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy includes at least one ceramic foam filter or any other type of filtration media such as porous tube or alumina balls disposed in a receptacle for the molten metal. A vibrator vibrates at least one of the filter, the receptacle or the metal and may be used to induce priming, filtering and/or drainage of the filter. The vibrator may be retrofitted to an existing filter system and may be adjustable in frequency and amplitude. The vibration may be continuous over a given period or produced in a single shock.

The present invention relates to a casting mould for casting complex-shaped, large-volume castings from a molten metal, wherein the casting mould has a mould cavity forming the casting and a delivery system for delivery of the molten metal, which is to be cast into the casting, into the mould cavity, wherein the delivery system comprises a sprue, a runner connected to the sprue and a feeder system connected to the runner, and wherein the mould cavity is connected to the feeder system or the runner via connections, and the use of such a casting mould. The casting mould according to the invention makes it possible to reliably produce castings of a highly complex shape, even from alloys which can be difficult to cast using conventional methods and whose casting results can be of an unreliable quality. This is achieved by the fact that, when seen in the flow direction of the molten metal flowing from the sprue into the runner during the casting operation, the runner, having a branch directed away from the sprue along the feeder system and having a directed-back branch adjoining the directed-away branch, is guided along the feeder system in the opposite direction to the directed-away branch, and by the fact that the feeder system is connected to both the directed-away branch and the directed-back branch via two or more gates distributed along the respective branch.

Filtration devices are provided with original structural features to allow a better stiffness of the same and prevent the possibility of being distorted and/or driven under the pressure of a flux of liquid metal or an alloy thereof which is passing there through. Said features may consist of a ridge portion extending the periphery of a filtration device, a rim portion provided in double-basket filtration devices, or a particular M shape filtration device.

A method to manufacture a ceramic foam filter includes: sintering a filter body to a temperature greater than a molten metal to be filtered through the body; creating multiple tortuous path channels extending through the filter body individually having a repeated and controlled passage geometry creating a continuously changing diameter and area of a flow path through the multiple tortuous path channels causing localized increases and decreases in molten metal flow rate through the multiple tortuous path channels; and applying a mixture of at least one ceramic powder and at least one binder using additive manufacturing to shape the filter body including the multiple tortuous path channels.

According to another embodiment, a molten metal filter having two opposed plates is provided. At least one hollow elongated member comprised of a porous refractory material is attached at a first end to a first end plate and at a second end to a second end plate. The first end plate has a passage extending through a width of the first end plate and a ledge that receives the first end of the elongated member. The second end plate has an opening receiving the second end of the elongated member. The opening passes through the width of the second end plate and is dimensioned to be larger than a circumference of the elongated member.

An apparatus and method for filtering molten metal (M), such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy includes at least one ceramic foam filter or any other type of filtration media such as porous tube or alumina balls disposed in a receptacle (12) for the molten metal (M). A vibrator vibrates at least one of the filter, the receptacle (12) or the metal and may be used to induce priming, filtering and/or drainage of the filter. The vibrator may be retrofitted to an existing filter system and may be adjustable in frequency and amplitude. The vibration may be continuous over a given period or produced in a single shock.

This filtration device 10 has a can body 20 having a reservoir 3 that connects to an opening 9 at the top, and a filtration unit 40 which is detachably installed in the reservoir. The filtration unit has a support plate 42, and filtration tubes 41 of bottomed cylindrical shape fastened to the support plate. The side wall 22 of the can body 20 has a protruding locking part 30 for installation of the filtration unit so that the filtration tubes are suspended from the support plate 42, with the openings 43 thereof facing upward. With the support plate 42 locked into the locking part 30, pressing members 70 for pressing the support plate 42 downward from the upper surface side in sections thereof lying towards the peripheral edge S in relation to the fastening locations of the filtration tubes 41 are deployed, making it possible for the support plate 42 to be fastened in clamped fashion by the locking part 30 and the pressing members 70.