Albany Research Center (United States. Bureau of Mines)
Abstract
In this paper we will discuss some of the early pioneering work as well as some of our more recent research. The Albany Research Center (ARC) has been involved with the melting and processing of metals since it was established in 1942. In the early days, hardly anything was known about melting refractory or reactive metals and as such, virtually everything had to be developed in-house. Besides the more common induction heated air-melt furnaces, ARC has built and/or utilized a wide variety of furnaces including vacuum arc remelt ingot and casting furnaces, cold wall induction furnaces, electric arc furnaces, cupola furnaces and reverberatory furnaces. The melt size of these furnaces range from several grams to a ton or more. We have used these furnaces to formulate custom alloys for wrought applications as well as for such casting techniques as spin casting, investment casting and lost foam casting among many. Two early spin-off industrializations were Wah Chang (wrought zirconium alloys for military and commercial nuclear applications) and Oremet (both wrought and cast Ti). Both of these companies are now part of the ATI Allegheny Ludlum Corporation
