Ladle (metallurgy)

In metallurgy, a ladle is a bucket-shaped container or vessel used to transport and pour out molten metals.

Many non-ferrous foundries also use ceramic crucibles for transporting and pouring molten metal and will also refer to these as ladles.

It is the refractory lining that stops the steel vessel from suffering damage when the ladle is used to transport metals with high melting temperatures that, if the molten metal came in direct contact with the ladle shell, would rapidly melt through the shell.

Refractory lining materials come in many forms and the right choice very much depends on each foundry's working practices.

Traditionally ladles used to be lined using pre-cast firebricks however refractory concretes have tended to supersede these in many countries.

For the transportation of very large volumes of molten metal, such as in steel mills, the ladle can run on wheels, a purpose-built ladle transfer car or be slung from an overhead crane and will be tilted using a second overhead lifting device.

[citation needed] Torpedo ladles are commonly used to transport liquid iron from a blast furnace to another part of the steel mill.

Where the ladle is fitted with a manually operated gearbox, the type of gearbox most commonly used is the worm and wheel design because in most practical circumstances, and when correctly maintained it can be considered as "self-locking" and does not need an internal friction brake to regulate the tilting speed of the ladle.