METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING ALLOY INGOT

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a round-rod shaped alloy ingot by hot forging, containing suspending a primary alloy ingot having a round-rod shape in a columnar mold while one end of the primary alloy ingot is held, pouring a molten metal formed of a heat-retaining metal into the columnar mold so as to apply a coating of the heat-retaining metal to the entire circumference of the primary alloy ingot, to obtain a forging alloy ingot, taking the forging alloy ingot out from the columnar mold, then subjecting the forging alloy ingot to a hot forging while an end portion of the forging alloy ingot is gripped as a gripping portion, and removing the coating of the heat-retaining metal.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a round-rod shaped alloy ingot by hot forging, comprising: suspending a primary alloy ingot having a round-rod shape in a columnar mold while one end of the primary alloy ingot is held, pouring a molten metal formed of a heat-retaining metal into the columnar mold so as to apply a coating of the heat-retaining metal to the entire circumference of the primary alloy ingot, to obtain a forging alloy ingot, taking the forging alloy ingot out from the columnar mold, then subjecting the forging alloy ingot to a hot forging while an end portion of the forging alloy ingot is gripped as a gripping portion, and removing the coating of the heat-retaining metal.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising, after the forging alloy ingot is taken out from the columnar mold: forming the gripping portion by forging a part of the forging alloy ingot coated by the heat-retaining metal, so as to reduce a diameter thereof, and inserting the gripping portion into a center hole of a ring die, and then compressing the primary alloy ingot in an axial direction through an upsetting.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the primary alloy ingot is formed of an age-hardening alloy.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the heat-retaining metal is formed of a stainless steel.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the hot forging is performed at 850° C. or higher.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein an outer diameter of the forging alloy ingot is set to be equal to or less than 1.3 times an outer diameter of the primary alloy ingot.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein an outer diameter of the forging alloy ingot is set to be equal to or larger than 1.2 times an outer diameter of the primary alloy ingot.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for manufacturing an alloy ingot in one embodiment of the present invention.

[0028] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the alloy ingot after forming a coating of a heat-retaining metal.

[0029] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the alloy ingot before hot forging.

[0030] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the alloy ingot which is subjected to upsetting.

[0031] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating a temperature change of an outermost layer of a primary alloy ingot in a simulation.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0032] First, a method for manufacturing an alloy ingot, which is one embodiment according to the present invention, will be described based on FIG. 1, with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4.

[0033] As illustrated in FIG. 1, first, a primary alloy ingot is manufactured (S1). In the manufacturing of the primary alloy ingot, for example, a primary alloy ingot having a round-rod shape can be obtained by using a vacuum arc remelting method (VAR). An alloy used here may be an alloy of a so-called “hard-to-work alloy” which has relatively high deformation resistance at the time of hot forging. That is, the hard-to-work alloy is an alloy in which when a temperature is decreased at the time of the hot forging, the deformation resistance becomes increased to make forging of the alloy hard, and cracks are easily generated. Examples of such a hard-to-work alloy include ultra heat-resistant alloys having a narrow forgeable temperature range, such as an Ni-based alloy, a Ti-based alloy and a Co-based alloy. Examples of the hard-to-work alloy also include an alloy such as an age-hardening alloy in which a precipitated phase appears at a certain temperature or lower to make the deformation resistance rapidly increase. Note that, this embodiment is intended to make the hot forging possible for a long period of time by minimizing the temperature decrease in the primary alloy ingot during the hot forging, and is not limited to using other alloys as the primary alloy ingot.

[0034] Next, a coating of a heat-retaining metal is formed on the entire periphery of the primary alloy ingot (S2). As illustrated in FIG. 2, the primary alloy ingot 1 is supported by a jig 5 via a suspending metal body 2 which is fixed to one end portion of the primary alloy ingot 1 and suspended in a cylindrical mold 6 having an internal space. Molten metal formed of a heat-retaining metal is poured around the primary alloy ingot 1. The molten metal is solidified to provide a coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, applied to the entire periphery of the primary alloy ingot 1 including an outer circumference, a lower portion, and an upper portion. That is, the primary alloy ingot 1 is “insert-casted” by using the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal. With this, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal can be preferably adhered to the primary alloy ingot 1. Particularly, in the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, an excess thickness 3a is imparted on the lower side (the bottom side) of the suspended primary alloy ingot 1. Note that, the mold can be formed into a square (e.g., a square, hexagonal, or octagonal cross-section).

[0035] Here, preferred examples of the heat-retaining metal include a metal which is capable of imparting a sufficient forging amount to the primary alloy ingot 1 at the time of the hot forging. That is, it is preferable to employ a metal which has lower deformation resistance in a temperature range for performing the hot forging than that of the primary alloy ingot 1, does not inhibit hot forging even when it is on the front layer side as the coating 3 and the temperature thereof is lower than that of the primary alloy ingot 1, and has high deformation resistance so as to sufficiently forge the primary alloy ingot 1. In addition, it is preferable to employ a metal which is easily thermal-treated such that embrittlement is not caused by heating or cooling at the time of hot forging. Further, it is preferable to employ a metal which has small scaling loss (loss due to the formation of an oxide film) at the time of heating, and also preferable to employ a relatively inexpensive metal. Examples of such a heat-retaining metal include a stainless steel such as SUS 304. Note that, the same materials may be used for the above-described suspending metal body 2.

[0036] After solidifying the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, a forging alloy ingot 10 is taken out from the mold 6, and a tong hold is formed thereon as necessary (S3).

[0037] In detail, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the tong hold is formed in such a manner that a part of the excess thickness 3a is necked at a position separated by a predetermined distance from an end surface of the bottom side of the forging alloy ingot 10, and is extend-forging to reduce its diameter such that the tong hold is formed into a stepped shape while leaving the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal in a predetermined thickness in the axial direction with respect to the end surface of the bottom side of the primary alloy ingot 1. With such a configuration, a tong hold 4 which is easily gripped by a gripping tool for hot forging, such as a manipulator is formed. Here, the tong hold 4 is obtained by reducing the diameter, and thus it is preferable to increase the strength by forging. Furthermore, it is preferable to appropriately manage the end portion, for example, gas cutting is preferably performed on the end portion. Note that, the suspending metal body 2 is still fixed to the primary alloy ingot 1. Here, in such a case where a diameter of the forging alloy ingot 10 is sufficiently small and thus is easily gripped by the gripping tool, the part of the excess thickness 3a in a state of being taken out from the mold 6 can be used as a gripping portion without forming the tong hold.

[0038] Next, the forging alloy ingot 10 is upset on a hole table as necessary (S4). That is, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the upsetting is performed in such a manner that the tong hold 4 is inserted into a center hole 21 of a ring-shaped die 20 to prevent deformation and at the same time, the forging alloy ingot 10 is compressed by a press 23 from the top side via a upper anvil 22 having a plate shape so as to be compressively deformed. The upsetting may be omitted in such a case where the forging ratio necessary for the primary alloy ingot 1 can be imparted only by the hot forging as described below.

[0039] Note that, the upsetting is typically performed before formed the tong hold; however, in the present embodiment, if the upsetting is performed before forming the tong hold, there is a concern that the sufficient compressive deforming amount cannot be imparted to the primary alloy ingot 1. That is, if the upsetting is performed before forming the tong hold, the primary alloy ingot 1 is embedded into the excess thickness 3a formed of the heat-retaining metal with small deformation resistance at the time of the hot forging so as to cause the excess thickness 3a to be greatly deformed, and thereby the deforming amount of the primary alloy ingot 1 with large deformation resistance becomes decreased. In this regard, as described above, the tong hold 4 is first formed into the stepped shape, then the upsetting on the hole table is performed by using the stepped portion so as to reduce the excess thickness 3a between the ring-shaped die 20 and the primary alloy ingot 1, and compressive deformation processing in the axial direction is performed so as to impart sufficient deforming amount to the primary alloy ingot 1.

[0040] In addition, the hot forging is performed (S5). In the hot forging, the tong hold 4 or the excess thickness 3a is gripped as a gripping portion by a gripping tool such as a manipulator, and extend-forging is performed by free forging as a so-called cantilever support. It is preferred that the hot forging be performed at 850° C. or higher.

[0041] At the time of the hot forging, the gripping tool that has a higher thermal conductivity than that of air takes heat of the forging alloy ingot 10 via the gripping portion. In contrast, in the present invention, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is applied to the entire periphery of the primary alloy ingot 1, particularly, to the gripping portion, and thus it is possible to further minimize the temperature decrease of the primary alloy ingot 1. In other words, it is possible to hold the temperature of the primary alloy ingot 1 in a forgeable temperature range for a long period of time without reheating, and thus, it is possible to obtain a predetermined amount of forging processing with less number of times of heating. In addition, in one-way forging of cantilever support, it is possible to omit a switching operation in which both ends alternately grasped, and thus the operation time can be shortened. Furthermore, in the case where the gripping portion is formed by a tong hold 4, handling becomes easier and thereby the operation time can be shortened.

[0042] Meanwhile, the gripping portion such as the tong hold is typically formed on the top side of a steel ingot by using a feeder head in many cases; however, in the present embodiment, the gripping portion is formed on the bottom side of forging alloy ingot 10 as described above. The space on the bottom side in the mold 6 provided when the primary alloy ingot 1 is suspended therein can secure a dimension necessary for the excess thickness 3a which corresponds to the gripping portion. Therefore, it is possible to form a gripping portion having a desired shape for minimizing the temperature decrease of the end portion on the gripping portion side of the primary alloy ingot 1. With this, at the time of forming the tong hold 4, it is also possible to neck the excess thickness 3a such that the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal remains in a predetermined thickness with respect to the end surface of the bottom side of the primary alloy ingot 1 in the axial direction. Note that, it is also possible to form the excess thickness on the top side to form a gripping portion; however, the excess thickness is preferably formed on the bottom side for relatively easy control of dimension.

[0043] The end surface of the top side of primary alloy ingot 1 is also covered with the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, and is heat-retained during the hot forging. The temperature of the end portion of the forging alloy ingot 10 having a round-rod shape is more easily decreased than the center portion, and thus it is preferable to make the dimension of the excess thickness of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal on the end surface side larger than that on the outer periphery.

[0044] At last, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is removed by machining or the like (S6), and thereby a forged body of the primary alloy ingot 1 is obtained.

[0045] As described above, according to the present embodiment, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is applied to the entire circumference, particularly, to the gripping portion of which the temperature decrease is relatively fast, and thus it is possible to minimize the temperature decrease of the primary alloy ingot 1 during the hot forging. That is, the temperature decrease of the primary alloy ingot 1 is minimized by improving the heat-retaining properties in the insert-casting forging, and thus the hot forging is allowed for a long period of time without reheating, and a predetermined amount of the forging processing can be obtained with fewer process steps.

[0046] Furthermore, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal can be preferably adhered to both end portions of the primary alloy ingot 1 which may cause complex multi-axial deformation due to forging, and thus when the amount of the forging processing becomes larger by a long period of time of hot forging, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal can be prevented from being damaged and the primary alloy ingot 1 can be prevented from being exposed to the outside. For this reason, it also is possible to perform the same hot forging on the high-performance hard-to-work alloy which is sensitive to the local temperature decrease.

[0047] Note that, in the forging alloy ingot 10, the thickness of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal has a preferable range. In FIG. 3, thickness T of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is defined as a value obtained by subtracting diameter D2 of the primary alloy ingot 1 from diameter D1 of the forging alloy ingot 10 and then dividing the obtained value by 2. When the heat is dissipated from the surface of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal into the atmosphere, the forging alloy ingot 10 causes a temperature decrease from the vicinity of the surface. Here, in the case where the value of thickness T is small, the temperature decrease of the outermost layer of the primary alloy ingot 1 becomes fast, and there is a concern in that the time for being held in a forgeable temperature range is decreased. On the other hand, in the case where the value of thickness T is large, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is greatly deformed due to a difference of the deformation resistance between the primary alloy ingot 1 and the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, cracks are easily generated on the surface thereof, the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal is damaged from the portion in which the crack is generated, and thereby the temperature decrease occurs locally in the primary alloy ingot 1.

[0048] In this regard, the outer diameter of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, that is, a relationship between diameter D1 of the forging alloy ingot 10 and diameter D2 of the primary alloy ingot 1 was examined. Note that, an age-hardening Ni-based alloy was used as the primary alloy ingot 1, and a stainless steel (SUS 304) was used as the heat-retaining metal for the coating 3.

[0049] As shown in Table 1, regarding each of various combinations of diameter D1 and diameter D2, the forging alloy ingot 10 was obtained by the above-described method and the hot forging was performed by three heatings (heating times: three times), and then the presence or absence of the cracks generation on the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal was evaluated and the results was recorded. That is, the case where the cracks are not found in the appearance of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal was recorded as “A” as an excellent state, and the case where the cracks are found was recorded as “B” as a defective state. Note that, in the hot forging, the heating temperature was set in a range of 1100° C. to 1150° C.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 D1 D2 T D1/D2 Evaluation Test 1 600 460 70 1.3 A Test 2 650 525 62.5 1.2 A Test 3 650 550 50 1.2 A Test 4 600 400 100 1.5 B Test 5 700 485 107.5 1.4 B

[0050] In Tests 1 to 3 in which the ratio of D1/D2 was set to be 1.2 or 1.3, cracks were not generated. On the other hand, in Tests 4 and 5 in which the ratios of D1/D2 were set to be 1.5 and 1.4, the cracks were observed on the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal. That is, the ratio of D1/D2 in which the cracks of the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal are less likely to be generated is equal to or less than 1.3.

[0051] In FIG. 5, the simulation results of the temperature decrease of the outermost layer of the primary alloy ingot 1 are respectively denoted as curved lines a, b, c, and d when the ratios of D1/D2 are set to be 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4, respectively. In the simulation, the heating temperature was set to be 1120° C., and diameter D1 was set to be 20 inches (about 500 mm). At this time, the time necessary for the forging operation provided by one heating after taken the alloy ingot out from the heating furnace is about ten minutes including a transporting time. During this ten minutes, it can be recognized that the case where the alloy ingot can be held at a temperature of 1050° C. or higher which is the forgeable temperature range is the cases of the curved lines b to d in which the ratio of D1/D2 was set to be equal to or greater than 1.2.

[0052] Based on the obtained results as described above, it is preferable that the ratio of D1/D2 is set to be 1.3 or less in order to minimize the cracks on the coating 3 of the heat-retaining metal, and it is preferable that the ratio of D1/D2 is set to be 1.2 or larger in order to minimize the temperature decrease of the primary alloy ingot 1.

[0053] As described above, the representative embodiment according to the present invention has been described; however, the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. A variety of alternative embodiments can be found by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

[0054] The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-014458 filed on Jan. 28, 2016, which contents are incorporated herein by reference.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS AND SIGNS

[0055] 1 Primary alloy ingot [0056] 3 Coating of heat-retaining metal [0057] 4 Tong hold [0058] 10 Forging alloy ingot