Melting furnaces & crucibles

Melting furnaces and crucibles are thermal equipment designed to bring metals and alloys to the liquid state at temperatures typically ranging from 300 °C (tin/lead alloys for hobby casting) to 1,600 °C (stainless steel). The refractory container — the crucible, made from graphite-clay, silicon carbide or high-temperature ceramics — must withstand extreme temperatures and the chemical attack of the molten metal and the fluxes used to remove dross.

Melting furnaces are subdivided by heating principle: induction furnaces heat the metal by the Joule effect generated by an electromagnetic field, ensuring temperature homogeneity and minimal oxidation; electric resistance or gas furnaces are more economical and suited to low-melting alloys; crucibles on propane/oxy-acetylene burners offer maximum portability for small artisan foundries. In the maker and goldsmithing context, melting enables the creation of castings in silver, brass, bronze and aluminium for jewellery, sculpture and rapid prototyping through lost-wax casting or gravity casting in sand moulds.