Casting plants for aluminum

Casting

Leading technology in the aluminium casthouse

SMS group designs, supplies, constructs, and commissions machinery and equipment for the aluminum industry worldwide. It focuses particularly on aluminum casthouses, supplying:

1. Horizontal casting plants for ingots, busbars, and billets
2. Vertical casting plants for extrusion and forging billets
3. Open mold ingot casters (air & water cooled)

Horizontal, vertical, or open-mold casting? All these methods have their merits, and each is suitable for different applications.

The universal caster

This versatile piece of equipment is ideal for producing:

Foundry alloy ingots
T-bars
Busbars and anode rods
Extrusion billets

You can produce all these products on the same machine. Each one has a dedicated exit route downstream of the flying saw.

Foundry alloy ingot caster

The melt passes without any turbulence from the furnace to the tundish of the casting machine. Then it travels through the transition tubes into the mold entirely shielded from the atmosphere. That means no oxides can form and enter the ingot. A three-meter-wide caster can cast as many as 30 strands simultaneously – each with a cross section of 75 x 54 mm. Depending on the alloy, the casting speed ranges from 400 to 600 mm per minute.

Busbar & anode rod caster

Frequently, primary aluminum producers initially purchase an HDC plant to manufacture busbars for potline construction. Extra-special here is that these plants are also designed for later conversion to foundry products.

What makes these busbars stand out is their excellent electrical conductivity, good surface finish, and perfect straightness. Furthermore, HDC busbar production is much cheaper than the VDC method.

T-bar caster

Currently, these plants produce T-bars (850 x 300 mm) containing up to 11% silicon at a maximum output of 17 tph.
The T-bars from our HDCs meet the highest customer demands. They come with a uniform, fine grain structure. Furthermore, each piece and batch have a consistent chemical composition. Equally important to your customers, the T-bars are free of inclusions, porosity, and cracks.

Extrusion billets emerging from the moulds

Billet caster

These plants are ideal if you operate your own casthouse for remelting extrusion or forging scrap.

Available here are capacities of up to 50,000 tons per year in the diameter range from 80 to 380 mm.

Do you want further information?

www.hertwich.com

Open-mold ingot casting

You don’t just get water-cooled ingot casters from Hertwich. We also offer you an air-cooled version. It comes with several improvements and provides an attractive alternative to the water-cooled solution. Common to both types are excellent efficiency, reliability, and product quality.

The casting launder used by Hertwich instead of a casting wheel reduces the cascading effect. That significantly cuts dross formation. It also ensures more uniform ingot height. You choose the downstream packing stations you want, including stacking, strapping, weighing, or marking equipment. All these are available in automated or manual versions. Simply enter your recipe, and the automated casting start ensures perfect safety and operator friendliness.

Water-cooled ingot caster

In countries with a hot climate, water cooling is vital to achieve the desired production rate. Open-mold ingot casters are traditionally water cooled as a cheap and simple way to solidify liquid metal.

Air-cooled ingot caster

You can also freeze and cool ingots exclusively with air.
Here are your benefits compared with water cooling:

Better ingot quality
No shrink holes or cavities, hazard-free remelting
No hydrogen pick-up
Less wear, longer mold service life
Less maintenance
No foundation pit
No water infrastructure
Additional primary cooling of filled molds, secondary cooling of ingots in a paternoster-type cooling tower