MEM04020 — Supervise individual ferrous melting and casting operation

Elements & performance criteria

Performance evidence

• following work instructions, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and safe work practices
• identifying and interpreting specifications, safety procedures and codes of practice/standards for the required melting and casting operation
• checking for contaminates when verifying metal changes to melting and recommending changes and/or additions to the charge as required
• providing evidence from castings that were made using different alloys and moulds
• monitoring melting and casting operations of ferrous metal
• operating a melting furnace safely and monitoring and supervising the operation of a furnace by other employees
• handling pouring equipment and monitoring safely and supervising the operation of pouring equipment by other employees

Knowledge evidence

• safe work practices and procedures and use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
• charge calculations – importance of composition control, methods used to calculate for additions and types of alloy additions and their effects on casting behaviour and finished product
• steel – induction furnace melting, principles, refractories suitable for steelmaking and their characteristics, arc furnace melting; acid, basic, single slag, double slag, deoxidisation and hydrogen control and ladle refining
• cast iron – types of cast iron, influence of carbon and silicon contents, carbon equivalent, effect of cooling rate, microstructure and classification of graphite, carbide stabilisers and graphite, inoculation and types of inoculant, spheroidal graphite formation and treatment methods and casting characteristics of grey, S.G (ductile) and malleable cast irons
• ferrous alloys – definitions of ferrous metals, grades of iron and their applications, including S.G. iron, ductile iron, grey and white irons, alloy cast irons, chilled and malleable iron, grades of steel and their applications, including carbon steel and alloys steels, methods of controlling physical properties, advantages/disadvantages of density of each type of ferrous metal, methods of controlling tensile strength of ferrous metals, methods of controlling the hardness of ferrous metals, the influence of melting points on production processes, shrinkage percentage of the types of ferrous metals, how to control metal fluidity, use of degassing to control gas defects, be able to take action to control grain size, casting temperature, make a selection of ferrous metal based on required properties, conduct metal analysis on ferrous metal and use Australian Standards (or other appropriate standard) for ferrous metals
• types of furnaces and their relative advantages and disadvantages – blast furnace, cupola, induction, direct arc, indirect arc, open hearth, reverberatory, rotary and maintenance
• refractory types and purposes, including dolomite, silica brick, chrome brick, ganister, fireclay, firebrick, magnesite, kyanite and fused alumina
• linings types and purposes, including monolithic, castable, rammable, bricks, basic, acid and neutral
• types of ladles – lip, tea pot and bottom pour
• safe working with ladles – pre-heat ladles, ladle maintenance and checking mechanical condition of ladles including gearboxes and safety locks
• use of lifting and handling equipment including – tongs, shanks, cranes, hoists, bogey ladles and maintenance
• supervision of other staff in melting and casting safety, including housekeeping, PPE, dry area and tools, pre-heating of ladles and safe working load of overhead cranes
• furnace operation procedures, including ensuring a dry and safe charge, warm and dry equipment, pre-heating, scrap selection, housekeeping, melting schedule, pouring schedule, calculations, including volume and mass calculations, charge calculations, maintaining supply and maintenance of melting and pouring equipment
• types of control equipment – thermal analysis, pyrometers, gas analysis, chemical analysis, wet chemical analysis, spectrograph and fluidity test
• quality control and procedures for: accurate weighing, correct chemical analysis, covers and fluxes, mould/metal reactions, conduct and interpretation of thermal analysis, alloying procedure, thermal analysis, degassing, deoxidising, ladle refining, chill/wedge test and customer requirements
• types of defects and prevention, including but not limited to contamination, gas absorption, metal analysis, temperature control, oxidation and other defects common to iron and steel
• tapping and pouring operations, including when to pour according to job and furnace specification, availability of emergency pour out pits and other safety equipment, availability of cranes or other transport, pour out rate, ensure mechanical test bar is available and taken if required and ensure pig pouring and tagging is performed correctly

Foundation skills

• Reading: Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
• Writing: Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
• Oral communication: Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
• Numeracy: Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.

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Questions about assessing MEM04020