HORIZONTAL CONTINUOUS CASTING OF Al AND Al-Si ALLOY IN SEMI-INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS

In paper is presented idea of construction and influence of selected parts of stand of horizontal continuous casting on quality of aluminum with purity of 99.5 divided by 99.8 % and AlSi2 alloy ingots. The main parts of the made stand belong to induction furnace, which is also tundish, water cooling continuous casting mould, system of recooling, system of continuous ingot drawing and cutting. Mainly was considered influence of horizontal electromagnetic stirrer, which was placed in continuous casting mould on refinement of ingots structure. The degree of structure refinement was represented by equiaxed crystals zone content on transverse section of ingot and average area of macro-grain in this zone. Effect of structure refinement obtained by influence of electromagnetic field was compared with refinement obtained by use of traditional inoculation, which consists in introducing of additives i.e. Ti, B and C to metal bath. The results of studies show possibility of effective refinement of Al and AlSi2 alloy primary structure, only with use of horizontal electromagnetic field and without necessity of application of inoculants. This method of inoculation is important, because inoculants decrease the degree of purity and electrical conductivity of pure aluminum and moreover are reason of point cracks formation during rolling of ingots.