Method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018003441-A1
Application number	US-201615358907-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 22, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Jan 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy includes steps of: placing a titanium material on a first bracket, and placing a nickel material on a second bracket; vacuumizing the vacuum confined space of the melting chamber to below a pressure of 10 −5 Torr, and lifting up the titanium material placed on the first bracket to a working area of an induction coil; introducing inert gases; starting the induction coil, to make the titanium material in a levitation state and electromagnetically stirred and heated; dropping the first bracket; measuring whether the temperature of the working area of the induction coil reaches a predetermined temperature range; when the first active metal is in the half molten state, dropping the nickel material placed on the second bracket to be added to the titanium material, and obtaining a homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy by means of electromagnetic stirring and heating; and recycling the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process, the method comprising:
step A: placing a titanium material on a first bracket, and placing a nickel material on a second bracket, so as to make the titanium nickel and materials located in a vacuum confined space of a melting chamber; step B: vacuumizing the vacuum confined space of the melting chamber to below a pressure of 10 −5 Torr, and lifting up the titanium material placed on the first bracket to a working area of an induction coil; step C: introducing inert gases, to prevent the titanium material from producing an oxidization reaction in a subsequent high-temperature process; step D: starting the induction coil, to make the titanium material in a levitation state and electromagnetically stirred and heated; step E: dropping the first bracket, to make the titanium material stably levitate and electromagnetically stirred and heated; step F: measuring whether the temperature of the working area of the induction coil reaches a predetermined temperature range between 1200-1600° C., to confirm whether the first active metal is in a half molten state; step G: when the first active metal is in the half molten state, dropping the nickel material placed on the second bracket to be added to the titanium material, and obtaining a homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy by means of electromagnetic stirring and heating; and step H: recycling the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy automatically or manually, to accomplish a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process.

2 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , wherein:
in step H, the automatic mode refers to giving no time limit until the temperature of the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy reaches the Curie temperature and the nickel-titanium alloy falls inside the recycling seat body of the material recycling seat.

3 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , wherein:
in step H, the manual mode refers to setting shutdown time of the high-frequency furnace and manually operating shutdown time of the melting chamber, to make the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy fall inside the recycling seat body of the material recycling seat.

4 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , the method further comprising:
After step H, when the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy is recycled, introducing helium to make the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy quickly cooled down to a general room temperature within several seconds.

5 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , the method further comprising:
After step H, when the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy is recycled, the recycling seat body of the material recycling seat is a water-cooling mold, and the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy is quickly cooled down.

6 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , the method further comprising:
before step A, cutting weights and sizes required by the titanium material and the nickel material.

7 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , the method further comprising:
after step E, pulling a recycling seat body of a material recycling seat to the middle of the chamber base of the melting chamber.

8 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 7 , wherein the recycling seat body of the material recycling seat is a shape-forming mold, whereby the homogenizing nickel-titanium alloy is directly formed into a predetermined shape.

9 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , wherein the melting chamber comprises a working pipe, a chamber base, a pipe cover and a chamber door which define the vacuum confined space.

10 . The method for manufacturing a nickel-titanium alloy using a high vacuum crucibleless levitation melting process according to claim 1 , wherein the inert gas comprises argon and helium.

Assignees

• Metal Ind Res & Dev Ct

Inventors

• Huang Chao-Hsien
• Hwang Weng-Sing
• Qi Guan-Ping
• CHENG Chien-Tzu
• Hung Yu-Ting

Classifications

• F27D2007/066

  Vacuum · CPC title

• F27D19/00

  Arrangements of controlling devices · CPC title

• F27D2019/0003

  Monitoring the temperature or a characteristic of the charge and using it as a controlling value · CPC title

• F27D11/06

  Induction heating, i.e. in which the material being heated, or its container or elements embodied therein, form the secondary of a transformer · CPC title

• C22C1/023

  Alloys based on nickel · CPC title