Capital Refractories has been involved in developing the Unibore system for use in automatic pouring systems. It has been specifically designed to accommodate a shallow nozzle which caters for the small gap between the automatic pouring tundish and the mould. The advantages of using Unibore with automatic pouring systems include:
• Downtime is reduced. The Unibore inner nozzle can be removed and changed allowing casting to be re-started quickly.
• The design of Unibore ensures the same bore size can be maintained throughout casting. • Labour is reduced due to the reduced changeover time.
• The amount of metal poured can be accurately controlled.
• A higher casting quality.
• Reduction in waste – greater control reduces spillage.
• Unibore provides greater flexibility – bore sizes can be changed with ease for every job required.
• Unibore helps to keep pace with high speed mould machines.
• The system allows for consistent pouring.
Typical cases of Capital’s Unibore in action:
(1) A steel foundry in Europe took on Capital’s Unibore system to aid in their production of ball bearings. The site produces thousands of bearings a day, and needed to change the nozzles used in their autopour system every few hours. The nozzles that were being used were unreliable and created high volumes of spillage. They created flare during casting, and lead to oxygen getting into the castings. Capital’s Unibore nozzles are now being used in this steel foundry with great success. They use Capital’s 16 mm, 18 mm, 22 mm and 25 mm inner nozzles to vary their casting sizes. Due to the unique Unibore two-nozzle system, changes can be made far quicker, thus increases daily production and reducing downtime. The site now casts far more moulds per hour. The flow rate through Capital’s nozzles remains constant and the issues with flare and spillage have been greatly reduced.
(2) An iron foundry in America had previously used graphite nozzles which were changed every day and a half due to the wear on the bore. The site had to shut down for around 2 hours every time a nozzle needed to be changed, greatly affecting production. The site had further problems with leaks occurring every time they did a shut-off. The foundry manufactures products such as light fittings and terminal junctions for electrics. Capital’s Unibore nozzles have been introduced, and they now have to use just one outer nozzle per week. They change the inner nozzle when they need to alter the bore size, resulting in just one quick inner nozzle change per day.