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Concept
Ladle (metallurgy)
Summary
In metallurgy, a ladle is a bucket-shaped container or vessel used to transport and pour out molten metals. Ladles are often used in foundries and range in size from small hand carried vessels that resemble a kitchen ladle and hold to large steelmill ladles that hold up to . Many non-ferrous foundries also use ceramic crucibles for transporting and pouring molten metal and will also refer to these as ladles.
The basic term is often prefixed to define the actual purpose of the ladle. The basic ladle design can therefore include many variations that improve the usage of the ladle for specific tasks. For example:
Casting ladle: a ladle used to pour molten metal into moulds to produce the casting.
Transfer ladle: a ladle used to transfer a large amount of molten metal from one process to another. Typically a transfer ladle will be used to transfer molten metal from a primary melting furnace to either a holding furnace or an auto-pour unit.
Treatment ladle: a ladle used for a process to take place within the ladle to change some aspect of the molten metal. A typical example being to convert cast iron to ductile iron by the addition of various elements into the ladle.
Unless the ladle is to be used with alloys that have very low temperature melting point, the ladle is also fitted with a refractory lining. It is the refractory lining that stops the steel vessel from suffering damage when the ladle is used to transport metals with high melting temperatures that, if the molten metal came in direct contact with the ladle shell, would rapidly melt through the shell. Refractory lining materials come in many forms and the right choice very much depends on each foundry's working practices. Traditionally ladles used to be lined using pre-cast firebricks however refractory concretes have tended to supersede these in many countries.
Foundry ladles are normally rated by their working capacity rather than by their physical size. Hand-held ladles are typically known as handshank ladles and are fitted with a long handle to keep the heat of the metal away from the person holding it.
Official source
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