METHOD FOR REFINING METALS AND ALLOYS BY MULTIPLE ELECTRON-BEAM REFINING Russian patent published in 2003 - IPC

FIELD: special electrometallurgy, possibly manufacture of high-quality ingots of metals and alloys by electron-beam refining. SUBSTANCE: method comprises steps of multiple electron-beam refining of consumable billet into crystallizer; performing at least one process of refining, except last one, by successive surfacing metal doses and then soaking melt doses in crystallizer after their surfacing by action of electron beam in combination with electromagnetic agitation; before melting next dose of consumable billet into crystallizer, performing fusion of part of its lateral surface by means of electron beam; determining mass of fused portion of consumable billet according to given expression h/H≥1,2(D/d)², where h - length of fused portion of melt billet, m; D - diameter of crystallizer, m; d - diameter of melt billet, m; H - maximum depth of melt bath in crystallizer corresponding to surfaced metal dose, m. EFFECT: enhanced quality, technical and economic factors of process for making high-quality ingots, possibly of refractory metals and alloys used in nuclear power engineering. 2 tbl, 1 ex