Abstract: Machine for removing salt cores from pressure die-cast or injection molded articles, having a washing tunnel, inside which there are a plurality of washing stations, and a conveyor designed to advance the articles one after the other through each washing station where a plurality of nozzles, pointing in a plurality of directions, project jets of a saline solution which is saturated or supersaturated with the same salt as that used to make the cores, on to the articles; the machine also having a tank, positioned underneath the conveyor, to recover the supersaturated saline solution containing, in suspension, the salt from which the abovementioned cores are made, a pump for conveying the saline solution contained in the tank to the nozzles and, lastly, a filtering device for recovering the excess salt in suspension in the tank.

Abstract: A method including a preheating stage wherein rheocast light alloy ingots are preheated to a temperature within the solidification range of the alloy; and a die casting stage wherein a mold is filled with the semiliquid alloy. The preheating stage is performed in a forced-convection-heated tunnel furnace, with the ingots housed inside cup-shaped containers which, following a temperature check, are tipped by a robot to unload the ingots into the injection chamber of a die casting machine. Work is conducted within a temperature range depending on the composition of the alloy, and such that, at the minimum permissible injection temperature, the ingot is incapable of maintaining its own shape, and, at the maximum permissible injection temperature, the apparent viscosity of the ingot is such as to ensure the mold is filled under laminar flow conditions.

Abstract: A process for semiliquid casting ingots from which to produce high-mechanical-performance die castings, whereby a metal alloy in the form of pigs and containing ceramic particles is smelted in a smelting furnace, transferred to a ladle, degassed, and fed into a pressurized furnace from which it is cast in the semiliquid state by feeding it at the solidification stage and under laminar flow conditions into a static mixer. At the outlet of the mixer the rheocast material is collected under laminar flow conditions, possibly with the interposition of a siphon type collecting tank and with protective gas shielding, through a cooled metal die, and solidified into a single billet. The billet is then guided by rollers past a saw and cut into pieces from which to obtain ingots of desired weight and size.

Abstract: A metal alloy, in particular a light alloy, is continuously cast in the semi-liquid state by bringing it up to conditions such as to cause segregation of a solid phase within the interior of the liquid alloy and making the alloy pass through a static mixer adapted to mix the solid phase uniformly upon formation, with the liquid alloy, so as to obtain at the output from the mixer a suspension which, once solidified, provides a material with valuable microstructural characteristics; the alloy is supplied continuously to the static mixer by introducing it in a discrete manner into a sealed furnace through an externally heated barometric column and, simultaneously, by pressurizing the interior of the furnace by the introduction into it of a flow of gas at a pressure value such as to cause the said alloy to flow through the static mixer in stationary laminar conditions.

Abstract: A process for the preparation of a mixture comprising a solid phase and a liquid phase of a metal alloy, in which the concentration of the said solid phase has a pre-established value, is described; it comprises at least a first stage for bringing the said alloy into a completely fluid state, a second stage for creating a constant range flow of the mixture between an inlet section and an outlet section, a third stage for subdividing in a longitudinal direction the said flow into a plurality of flow sections, each of which has a predetermined length and in each of which the flow is subdivided into at least two independent streams, and a fourth stage for making each of the said streams flow along such a trajectory as to obtain in each of the said streams of each flow section a confluence of parts of both streams of the immediately preceding section.