Methodology for Evaluation of Converting Ar for N2 for Liquid Metal Degassing: A Case Study

Well-established liquid metal treatments are critical toward the production of high-quality aluminum casting components. The aluminum metalcasting industry in North America is worth ~25B USD and must compete effectively with the rest of the world’s aluminum casting producers (~94B USD). Part of the necessary continuous improvement activities of the North American foundry industry is to drive down manufacturing costs while not adversely impacting casting quality. This article is a case study on establishing a sound method of converting costly argon (Ar) used for rotary degassing to nitrogen gas (N2), not in test foundry laboratory conditions, but in a live production setting which must process up to 60K lbs. of liquid metal daily, while considering the potential impact of meteorological data (max. daily temp. and dew point) on the metal system performance for all seasons. Once the performance of Ar is understood and successful in the most humid of days with near max. liquid metal throughput, conversion of N2 can be started and monitored for performance.