Update: I was sure that new ceramic foam filter for our aluminum pours was just marketing fluff, but after a month of cleaner castings with 30% less slag, I'm sold.

Our shift lead in Toledo insisted we give it a shot, and now I'm curious if anyone has tips for getting the most pours out of one before it degrades.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jana3mo agoTop Commenter

Preheat it slowly to avoid thermal shock cracks... we ruined a couple by just tossing them in. Keep your metal temperature steady too, big swings seem to wear them out faster. A quick backflush with argon between pours if you can swing it clears out the gunk and buys you more time. Ours lasted almost twice as long once we got the hang of that.

grant.richard3mo ago

Is all that extra work really worth it for a crucible? We just heat ours up with the furnace and never had one crack on us. Metal temp swings happen all the time in our shop and things are fine. The argon purge sounds like a hassle for maybe a little more life, but not double. Seems like overthinking it.

norag552mo ago

You said metal temp swings happen all the time and things are fine. In my shop, that's exactly what killed our crucibles fast. Letting the aluminum just sit and cool down in the pot between runs built up a ton of oxide gunk. That stuff sticks to the walls and causes hot spots. We saw a real difference with a slow argon purge to clear it out. It's a few extra minutes, but for us it turned a crucible from a maybe two-month part into something that lasts almost half a year. Your mileage may vary, but for our money and downtime, the extra step is worth it.