EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY-SCALE FOUNDRY & ROLLING MILL

Touchstone's Foundry consists of a 50KW, solid-state induction power supply which currently powers a graphite crucible for melting up to 40 lb of aluminum and/or similar volumes of other non-ferrous alloys. The primary purpose of this facility is to produce small amounts of experimental alloys. The system can be expanded to allow melting and casting of approximately 120-lb heats of ferrous based materials.

Touchstone's chemistry laboratory is capable of performing chemical analysis of experimental heats while still molten, allowing for the precise control of final chemistry.

The rolling mill is an 8" wide, four-speed, four-high, reversing Fenn mill that is currently equipped with 5" diameter, tool steel backup rolls. Typical use of this mill is to produce small quantities of experimental aluminum sheet for laboratory trials. It has also supported studies of cold reduction of various aluminum alloys to produce plots of mechanical properties versus percent reduction. Sheet can be produced to support experimental stamping. The mill has a 100,000 lb maximum closing force and can cold roll a wide range of metals.

By changing the geometry of the rolls, section rolling is also possible. This provides the ability to manufacture many shapes including round and square bars.