In the 1840s, copper mining became a major American industry. While it originated in northern Michigan, now states in the southwest such as Arizona and New Mexico are the leaders in American copper mining. Other states, such as California, Vermont, and New Jersey (the original site for an unsuccessful attempt at copper mining in 1750), also had copper mines, but those have since closed. According to a U.S. Geological Survey in January 2013, the United States has the fourth largest known copper reserves in the world.
Copper is mainly used in construction and electrical equipment. However, it has many other uses, including as an anti-germ surface in medical buildings, such as hospitals.
Induction melting technology allows for copper to be placed in an environment with high level of control by the furnace operator. The temperature inside the furnace is very precise. Additionally, copper can be melted using direct heating without the heating component actually making contact with the metal. Copper has a relatively high melting point (1984 degrees Fahrenheit and 1085 degrees Celsius), so a furnace utilizing electricity as the “fuel,” such as the induction furnace, is ideal for copper melting.
Advantages of an induction furnace
Induction furnaces for melting copper can provide many advantages to the metal melting industry.
- Efficient: One of the biggest advantages of induction heating is its energy efficiency. The furnace does not consume a lot of power while melting, or while idle.
- Compact: An induction furnace used for melting metals is often small. This means that the furnace will take up less space in the foundry or manufacturing area.
- Repeatable: Induction melting ensures that the metal being heated and the induction coil never come into contact with each other so a consistently high quality melted metal can be produced every time.
- Fast: Induction coils allow the heat to be produced directly and instantly. This cuts down on melting and production time, and it allows for more metal to be melted.
- Environmentally friendly: Being conscious about the environment is very important these days, and induction melting is very clean. Electricity use in the Induction furnace so it does not produce any kind of the air-pollution.
Manufacturers and foundries can benefit from investing in a copper induction melting furnace. It will create a better workspace with more room and more comfortable conditions for operators, and it also ensures that more time will be spent actually melting copper than operating the machine and ensuring there are no defects.
