Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 14

V irtually everything we use in our daily life is now governed by standards. These are intended to make the things we use safer and, hopefully, better. They also give reassurance to people that what they get, by conforming to a standard, is safe and will perform as expected. If you are buying a casting, say for something as superficially simple as a road grate or a manhole cover, you want to know that it has been made to a uniform standard so it will perform its function for many years and not simply break the first time either a truck runs over it or there is a hard frost. However, it is not quite the same for foundry ladles. Which on the face of it is a bit odd considering the inherent dangers associated with handling molten metal. You’d think that they would be covered by a multitude of standards addressing all aspects of design, safety, and their use. However, this is not the case and if you look into it, it does start to make some sort of sense. For a start, the ladle is a very small and specialized part of the whole foundry process. Technical change occurs, more often than people would think, but it tends to be in the detail. Often existing safety standards will include the ladle as a general item but seldom cover the specifics so adaptations to these changes are often not addressed. Because molten metal handling is so dangerous, LADLE DESIGN AND STANDARDS 4 everybody needs to treat the process with due respect and safety. This can mean that other foundry practices get the attention of outside agencies. For example, issues concerning white vibration finger (WVF) and controlling silica dust tend to have a higher profile. It used to be said, at least in the UK, that you never met an old foundry man. The inference, being that the foundry environment killed them prematurely. My own experience, over a number of decades, is that foundries have made giant strides to improve safety and the working environment wherever they can. If anything, you now seldom meet a young foundry man. The industry often still being blighted with an outdated “dirty” image. So where does this tie into ladle design? Well, lack of an applicable standard does not remove responsibility, either from the ladle manufacturer or the foundry. If anything, it adds to it. Back in the early 1980’s if you asked for a standard ladle, in the UK, and most then did, then that was exactly what you got. The majority of ladles Acetarc previously built complied closely with British standards (as we are a British company) and those standards were very comprehensive. They laid out the ladle shell size, lining thickness (based on firebrick) the permitted freeboard, spout STEVEN HARKER Technical Director Acetarc Engineering Co. Ltd ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • Working practices change as new techniques are introduced. • The ladle design has to match these changes. • Standards may not always keep up. It is both the ladle manufacturer and the foundry’s responsibility to ensure that safety is not compromised by these changes.