The disclosure relates to a method for producing feedstock in piece form from metal, in particular aluminium and/or aluminium alloys, for a metal-casting installation, in particular aluminium-casting installation, in which scrap parts of metal, in particular of aluminium and/or aluminium alloys, are sorted on the basis of their alloying constituents and/or alloy contents and subsequently, on the basis of an alloy to be produced in the feedstock, the scrap parts are mixed into a composition having a homogeneous distribution of the alloy and fed to a press, in which the scrap parts of the composition are subjected to a pressure that compresses the scrap parts while generating a temperature, wherein, as a result of the application of pressure, the scrap parts are heated up to the transition temperature between solid and liquid of at least some of the scrap parts and/or the alloys and/or alloying constituents thereof before the feedstock is discharged in a specific geometrical form.

A method for producing a metal film from an over 50% nickel alloy melts more than one ton of the alloy in a furnace, followed by VOD or VLF system treatment, then pouring off to form a pre-product, followed by re-melting by VAR and/or ESU. The pre-product is annealed 1-300 hours between 800 and 1350 C. under air or protection gas, then hot-formed between 1300 and 600 C., such that the pre-product then has 1-100 mm thickness after the forming and is not recrystallized, recovered, and/or (dynamically) recrystallized having a grain size below 300 m. The pre-product is pickled, then cold-formed to produce a film having 10-600 m end thickness and a deformation ratio greater than 90%. The film is cut into 5-300 mm strips annealed 1 second to 5 hours under protection gas between 600 and 1200 C. in a continuous furnace, then recrystallized to have a high cubic texture proportion.

A method for producing a metal film from an over 50% nickel alloy melts more than one ton of the alloy in a furnace, followed by VOD or VLF system treatment, then pouring off to form a pre-product, followed by re-melting by VAR and/or ESU. The pre-product is annealed 1-300 hours between 800 and 1350 C. under air or protection gas, then hot-formed between 1300 and 600 C., such that the pre-product then has 1-100 mm thickness after the forming and is not recrystallized, recovered, and/or (dynamically) recrystallized having a grain size below 300 m. The pre-product is pickled, then cold-formed to produce a film having 10-600 m end thickness and a deformation ratio greater than 90%. The film is cut into 5-300 mm strips annealed 1 second to 5 hours under protection gas between 600 and 1200 C. in a continuous furnace, then recrystallized to have a high cubic texture proportion.

A method for preparing a covetic, nanocarbon-infused, metal composite material is described is herein. The method comprises heating a stirring molten mixture of a metal (e.g., Cu, Al, Ag, Au, Fe, Ni, Pt, Sn, Pb, Zn, Si, and the like) and carbon (e.g., graphite) at a temperature sufficient to maintain the mixture in the molten state in a reactor vessel, while passing an electric current through the molten mixture via at least two spaced electrodes submerged or partially submerged in the molten metal. Each of the electrodes has an electrical conductivity that is at least about 50 percent of the electrical conductivity of the molten mixture at the temperature of the molten mixture. Preferably, the conductivity of the electrodes is equal to or greater than the conductivity of the molten mixture.

Jacketed rotary converter. The converter includes an inclined pot mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis, a refractory lining for holding a molten alloy pool, an opening in a top of the pot for introducing feed, a lance for injecting oxygen-containing gas, a heat transfer jacket for the pot adjacent the refractory lining, and a coolant system to circulate a heat transfer medium through the jacket to remove heat from the alloy pool in thermal communication with the refractory lining. Also disclosed is a PGM converting process using the jacketed rotary converter. The process can also include low-or no-flux converting; refractory protectant addition; slag separation; partial feed pre-oxidation; staged slagging; and/or smelting the slag in a secondary furnace with primary furnace slag.

Jacketed rotary converter. The converter includes an inclined pot mounted for rotation about a longitudinal axis, a refractory lining for holding a molten alloy pool, an opening in a top of the pot for introducing feed, a lance for injecting oxygen-containing gas, a heat transfer jacket for the pot adjacent the refractory lining, and a coolant system to circulate a heat transfer medium through the jacket to remove heat from the alloy pool in thermal communication with the refractory lining. Also disclosed is a PGM converting process using the jacketed rotary converter. The process can also include low-or no-flux converting; refractory protectant addition; slag separation; partial feed pre-oxidation; staged slagging; and/or smelting the slag in a secondary furnace with primary furnace slag.

Integrated PGM converting process. The process includes smelting a catalyst material in a primary furnace, smelting the primary furnace slag in a secondary furnace, converting the collector alloys from the primary and secondary furnaces in a converter to recover PGM enriched alloy and converter slag, separating the recovered converter slag into first and second converter slag portions, and supplying the first converter slag portion to the secondary furnace for smelting with the primary furnace slag. The process can also include low- or no-flux converting; refractory protectant addition; magnetic slag separation; partial feed pre-oxidation; staged slagging; and/or jacketing the converter.

The process includes melting an initial collector alloy charge to start a converter cycle, introducing feed and injecting oxygen into the alloy pool, allowing ferrous slag to collect, terminating feed introduction and oxygen injection to tap the slag, repeating the feed introduction/oxygen injection/slag tapping sequence a plurality of times, and then tapping the alloy to end the cycle. A delay before non-final slag tappings allows any entrained alloy to settle back into the alloy pool, but the final slag tapping is commenced promptly and alloy is optionally entrained. Slag from the final tapping that may contain entrained alloy can be recycled to the converter, e.g., in a subsequent cycle. The process can also include low- or no-flux converting; refractory protectant addition; slag separation; partial feed pre-oxidation; smelting the slag in a secondary furnace with primary furnace slag; and/or jacketing the converter.

A method and an installation (10) for removing slag allows both slag removal and metal recovery from slag (60) to be performed quickly and easily. The risk of slag fires is reduced.

A method and an installation (10) for removing slag allows both slag removal and metal recovery from slag (60) to be performed quickly and easily. The risk of slag fires is reduced.