Melting Dental Scrap with UPT-S5 5 kW

Ultraflex Power Technologies recently worked with a local dental scrap processor to demonstrate capabilities of the UPT-S5 5 kW Induction System for melting dental scrap. The dental scrap can vary in composition, so using the UPT-S5 and HS-4, with the ability to adjust tap settings, provides an ideal solution for this heating challenge. The customer is excited to be able to melt the scrap with a safer solution than the torch that he currently uses.

  1. For melting dental scrap, we added flux, composed of equal quantities of borax and soda ash, to a graphite crucible.
    • The flux is an important part of the melting process, as it lowers the melting temperature for the mixture, and also helps draw out the impurities from the metal.
    • A second run was conducted on the dental scrap, which had less porcelain scrap, and more metal. For this run, we switched to a ceramic crucible. With a graphite crucible, the induction system heats the crucible, which is then transferring heat to the material in the crucible. With a ceramic crucible, the induction system is heating any metal in the crucible directly. Ceramic crucibles are able to withstand higher temperatures than graphite crucibles.
  2. We then added roughly an equivalent volume of the dental scrap to the flux in the crucible.
  3. The graphite crucible was placed into the induction heating coil. The induction heating system was turned on, and powered until the material in the crucible was molten.
  4. The molten material was poured into a second crucible for cooling.
  5. After cooling, the slag was removed, leaving the separated metal.