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In the fiercely competitive precious metal industry, innovation in production technology has become the key to winning for enterprises. Continuous casting machines have gradually become the “favorite” of most precious metal companies due to their unique advantages. This technology of continuously casting high-temperature metal liquid into specific specifications of castings brings significant benefits to enterprises from production efficiency to product quality. Next, we will explore in depth the reasons why it is highly favored. ​

1. Efficient production, seizing market opportunities

(1) Continuous production significantly shortens the cycle time

The continuous casting machine has broken the traditional intermittent production mode of the mold casting process and achieved continuous production of molten metal to castings. Traditional casting involves a series of tedious processes such as mold cleaning, preheating, casting, and demolding after completing each furnace of casting, which not only takes a long time but also leaves the equipment idle for a long time.

And the continuous casting machine can operate continuously. Taking a well-known gold production enterprise as an example, after introducing the continuous casting machine, its billet production cycle was shortened from 8 hours per batch to 3 hours, and the production efficiency was increased by more than 1.5 times. This efficient production mode enables enterprises to respond to market demand faster and take the lead in pushing products to the market in a market with frequent fluctuations in precious metal prices, thus gaining a competitive advantage. ​

(2) High metal yield reduces costs

Precious metals are expensive, and even a small percentage of loss can cause significant cost increases. During the production process of the continuous casting machine, the molten metal is directly formed, greatly reducing the metal loss caused by casting residue, riser cutting, etc.

Data shows that compared to traditional casting, the metal yield of continuous casting machines can generally be increased by 12% -15%. Taking platinum production as an example, an enterprise with an annual output of 5 tons of platinum can produce about 600-750 kilograms of platinum annually by adopting continuous casting machines. Calculated at the market price of platinum, it can increase revenue by millions or even tens of millions of yuan per year, effectively reducing the production cost of unit products and improving the profit margin of the enterprise. ​

2. Precise control to ensure product quality

(1) Accurate control of solidification process

The continuous casting machine achieves precise control over the solidification process of molten metal by accurately adjusting parameters such as the cooling rate of the crystallizer, the casting speed, and the distribution of water in the secondary cooling zone. Taking silver product production as an example, when the cooling speed of the crystallizer is adjusted to accelerate, the grain size of the silver casting becomes finer and more uniform. After testing, its strength is increased by about 20% and toughness is enhanced by 15%, greatly improving the subsequent processing performance.

This precise control capability can meet the diverse needs of different customers for product performance, making the precious metal products produced by enterprises more competitive in quality. ​

(2) Reduce internal defects and improve yield rate

In the continuous casting process, the billet is formed under stable solidification conditions, and the drawing process is subjected to uniform force, effectively avoiding internal cracks, looseness and other defects caused by complex external forces in traditional mold casting.

A certain platinum group metal processing enterprise once conducted a comparative experiment, and found that when using traditional mold casting technology, the internal crack defect rate of the casting billet was as high as 8%, but after switching to continuous casting machine production, the defect rate decreased to less than 1%. High quality castings have laid a solid foundation for subsequent processing, increasing the product yield from 85% to over 95%, further ensuring the economic benefits of the enterprise. ​

3. Flexible adaptation to meet diverse needs

(1) Production of diverse cross-sectional shapes and sizes

The powerful flexibility of continuous casting machines is reflected in their ability to cast billets of various cross-sectional shapes and sizes. Whether it is common circular, square, or plate-shaped castings, or special-shaped cross-section castings used in special fields, they can all be easily achieved.

In the jewelry industry, enterprises can produce circular wire billets of different diameters by adjusting the continuous casting machine crystallizer according to design requirements; In the field of electronics industry, it is also possible to cast precious metal sheets of specific thickness and width to meet the personalized order needs of different industries and customers, helping enterprises expand their business scope. ​

(2) Widely applicable to various precious metals

Continuous casting technology has good applicability to various precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, etc. The physical and chemical properties of different precious metals vary greatly, for example, platinum has a melting point of up to 1772 ℃, while silver has a melting point of only 961.78 ℃, and their flowability is also different.

The continuous casting machine optimizes process parameters, such as increasing the cooling intensity and casting speed of the crystallizer for platinum, adjusting the crystallizer material and surface treatment for silver, so that the same equipment can adapt to the production of multiple precious metals. This not only improves equipment utilization, but also avoids the high investment of enterprises in purchasing multiple sets of equipment for producing different precious metals, reducing operating costs.

4. Technological innovation drives sustainable development

(1) Automation and intelligence empower production

The automation and intelligent control system equipped on modern continuous casting machines has become the “smart brain” of the production process. Various sensors monitor key parameters such as molten steel temperature, liquid level height, and billet pulling speed in real-time, and quickly transmit the data to the control system.

The system automatically adjusts the operating parameters of the equipment based on preset programs and algorithms to ensure stable and accurate production processes. In a certain gold production plant, the introduction of intelligent control systems has improved product quality stability by 30% and reduced production accidents caused by human operational errors by 80%. At the same time, the system can also provide real-time fault diagnosis and warning for equipment, arrange maintenance in advance, extend the service life of equipment, and reduce maintenance costs. ​

(2) New processes and equipment bring new opportunities

Researchers are constantly exploring and developing new continuous casting processes and equipment, injecting new vitality into the production of precious metals. The application of thin slab continuous casting technology makes the production of precious metal sheets more efficient and energy-saving.

Traditional production of thin plates requires multiple rolling processes, while thin slab continuous casting can directly produce thinner castings, reducing rolling passes and lowering production costs by 15% -20%. New equipment such as wheeled continuous casting machines are also constantly developing and improving, providing precious metal companies with more technological choices and driving the industry towards higher quality development.