Method of casting lithium containing aluminium alloys

1. A method of casting an ingot of an aluminium alloy comprising lithium, the ingot having a length L, width W, and thickness T, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) preparing at least two molten aluminium based alloys in separate furnaces, a first alloy with a composition A which is free from lithium as purposive alloying element, and a second alloy with a composition B which comprises lithium as purposive alloying element;

(b) transferring the first alloy via a metal conveying trough from a first of said furnaces to a casting station;

(c) initiating the start of casting an ingot and casting the first alloy to a required length L 1 of an ingot in the casting direction;

(d) subsequently transferring the second alloy via a metal conveying trough from a second of said furnaces to the casting station while simultaneously stopping the transfer of the first alloy to said casting station;

(e) casting the second alloy from an end surface of the cast first alloy at length L 1 to an additional required length L 2 in the casting direction;

(f) cropping the cast ingot at a bottom thereof at a length that is greater than or equal to the cast length L 1 .

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said step (c) comprises direct chill casting in a vertical direction.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cast length L 1 is less than three times the thickness T of the cast ingot.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the metal conveying trough comprises a housing for a metal filter.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the metal conveying trough comprises a container for a metal degassing unit.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a transition between alloys A and B is obtained with no interruption to molten metal flow.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein following casting length L 2 in the casting direction of the second alloy, subsequently transferring the first alloy via the metal conveying trough from the first of said furnaces to the casting station while simultaneously stopping the transfer of the second alloy to said casting station, and casting the first alloy from an end surface of the second alloy at length L 2 to an additional required length L 3 in the casting direction and subsequently finishing the casting operation.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first aluminium alloy has a composition A comprising less than 0.1% of lithium.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second aluminium alloy has a composition B comprising 0.2% to 10% of lithium.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the first aluminium alloy has a composition A comprising less than 0.1% of lithium, wherein the second aluminium alloy has a composition B further comprising 0.1% to 1% of silver and wherein the first aluminium alloy has a composition A having less than 0.1% silver.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second aluminium alloy has a composition B further comprising 0.1% to 1% of silver and wherein the first aluminium alloy has a composition A having less than 0.1% silver.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein L 1 +L 2 is equal to the length L of the cast ingot.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cast length L 1 is less than 2.5 times the thickness T of the ingot.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the metal conveying trough comprises a housing for a ceramic foam filter.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first aluminium alloy has a composition A which is substantially lithium free.