Direct Chill casting is a method for the fabrication of cylindrical or rectangular solid ingots from non-ferrous metals, especially Aluminum, Copper, Magnesium and their alloys.
[1] Direct Chill casting operates by pouring liquid metal continuously into a short mold (7.5–15 cm deep) that is open at the bottom.
After leaving the closed mold at its bottom (e.g. with 5–15 cm/min), water is directly sprayed on the new ingot, continuing the solidification until complete.
[1] Typically the process is started with a starter-dummy block at the bottom of the mold, and runs until the maximum length possible in the machine is reached (up to 10 m).
[1] The casting method reduces the internal stress in the cooled material by allowing contractions on all sides, as opposed to only on the top of the ingot in a traditional trough mold.