A casting ladle has a body ( 2 ) with a base ( 3 ) and walls ( 4, 6, 8 ) made of a laminated composite ceramic material that includes multiple layers of a woven fiber reinforcing fabric embedded in a ceramic matrix. A rigid support element ( 20 ) for attaching the ladle to a handling device is embedded within the composite ceramic material. In a preferred form, the reinforcing fabric is made of woven glass and the matrix material includes calcium silicate and silica.
1. A casting ladle comprising:
a body with a base and walls made of a composite ceramic material which comprises multiple layers of a woven fiber reinforcing fabric embedded within a ceramic matrix,
one or more mounting blocks for attaching the ladle to a handling device, and
a rigid support element embedded within the composite ceramic material between adjacent layers of woven fiber reinforcing fabric and comprising one or more mounting elements located within the mounting blocks.
2. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the composite ceramic material comprises between two and twenty-five layers of reinforcing fabric.
3. The casting ladle according to claim 2 , wherein the composite ceramic material comprises between four and twenty layers of reinforcing fabric.
4. The casting ladle according to claim 3 , wherein the composite ceramic material comprises approximately ten layers of reinforcing fabric.
5. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the reinforcing fabric comprises woven glass.
6. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the matrix material is selected from the group consisting of fused silica, alumina, mullite, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, silicon aluminium oxy-nitride, zircon, magnesia, zirconia, graphite, calcium silicate, boron nitride (solid BN),aluminium nitride (AIN) and titanium diboride (TiB 2 ), and mixtures of these materials.
7. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the matrix material is calcium based.
8. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the matrix material comprises calcium silicate and silica.
9. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the matrix material comprises wollastonite and colloidal silica.
10. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the ladle comprises a non-stick surface coating.
11. The casting ladle according to claim 10 , wherein the coating comprises boron nitride.
12. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein ladle has a wall thickness of between 5 mm and 25 mm.
13. The casting ladle according to claim 12 , wherein the ladle has a wall thickness of approximately 12 mm.
14. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the ladle has a capacity of between 0.5 kg and 50 kg of liquid aluminium.
15. The casting ladle according to claim 14 , wherein the ladle has a capacity of between 1 kg and 20 kg of liquid aluminium.
16. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the support element comprises a rigid frame element.
17. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the support element is made of steel.
18. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the support element comprises an elastomeric covering.
19. The casting ladle according to claim 1 , wherein the support element extends around the circumference of the casting ladle.