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Heated a batch of 356 alloy way too fast yesterday

The melt looked fine but we got way more gas porosity in the castings than normal. Turns out the new guy cranked the furnace to full right away instead of ramping up. Anyone have a good rule of thumb for heating rates on aluminum alloys?
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3 Comments
hayden_rivera
Our old shop used 100 degrees per hour for 356.
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noahlane
noahlane1mo ago
That 100 per hour rate for 356, was that for a full load or just a few pieces? We tried a similar speed on a big batch once and ended up with a ton of stress cracks. The slower climb fixed it, but I'm curious if the old shop had a trick to make the faster rate work.
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miab87
miab872mo ago
What's the rush, right? I learned that lesson the hard way too, back when I was the new guy who thought faster was better. We stick to a slow climb now, like Hayden said, and it saves a lot of headache.
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