State of the Art of Superalloy Production for Aerospace and Other Application Using VIM/VAR or VIM/ESR

Vacuum induction melting is indispensable in the manufacture of Ni- and Co-based superalloys and other sophisticated alloys because of t heir reactivity with atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen. The paper describes the technology of melting and refining in a vacuum induction furnace, the programmable furnace control and metallurgical results. The paper also describes subsequent remelting processes like VAR and ESR which make it possible to meet the very high quality requirements for aerospace applications.