A crucible is a container used to melt ore and other materials into a liquid for molding. It is made of cast iron and lined with thermal barriers. It can be heated with electricity or carbon rods. Impurities are skimmed off before pouring into molds.
A crucible is the container used to melt ore and other ingredients into a liquid that can be poured into molds into a working shape. Commonly made of very heavy cast iron and lined with brick, ceramic tile, or some other type of thermal barrier, the pot is able to withstand extreme heat for many cycles of smelting without burning or weakening. Heated in a variety of ways, the foundry is often hung from large loops cast into the sides of the pot. These flaps provide a tipping position that allows you to tilt and pour the pot. Cookware often includes a heavy lid or lid to aid in the rapid heating of the contents.
Some of the smaller cookware designs are placed on or over a heating element to melt the contents. Commonly an electric or natural gas heating element will be used to bring the pot up to temperature. Some very small disposable pans are simply placed on a small stove and heated until the contents can be poured into a sand mold. When using this type of pot, it is extremely critical that there is no water in the vicinity of the crucible. A drop of water in a very hot pot of molten metal can cause the pot to explode and empty onto everyone and everything in the vicinity.
Larger and industrial sized projects use a number of methods to heat the contents with electricity in one form or another, being the method of choice for many cookware. One design uses a coiled electrical element to create the heat needed to enable fusion. Alternating electric current (AC) is applied to the heating coils, which begin to heat up similar to an element in an electric kitchen oven. Many of these electrically powered cookware sets use a water-cooled design to eliminate overheating of the heating element.
The most common type of crucible in large industrial operations uses carbon rods charged with an electrical current to create very high temperatures similar to a carbon arc torch or welding machine. The carbon rods create heat to the contents of the pot, creating a molten liquid that must have the impurities skimmed off the top of the liquid metal before pouring the material into a mold. Limestone is commonly added to molten iron to bring impurities to the surface. Workers use long steel ladles to extract impurities from the top of the molten liquid.
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