A method of flotation investigated, for which a mixture of air with saturated water steam is used as a gas phase. When steam contacts with liquid, the boundary layer of the bubble is heated due to heat of condensation, which is further spent for steam evaporation—the bubble is broadened and forces out the «hot» layer from the surface into the bulk, while its place is occupied by underheated liquid, and condensation repeats. The wave-like repetition of condensation↔evaporation processes determines the damping pulsations of the bubble surface, which varies the result of flotation. The flotation method by the air-steam mixture is used when concentrating the copper–nickel feedstock by the scheme «in two jets»: the crude concentrate of the first flotation jet is isolated from 1/2 part of the initial feedstock, it is mixed with another 1/2 part of ore, and ready crude concentrate of the second flotation jet is isolated using aerosol column flotation. When concentrating the ores of the Pechenga ratio (Russia) by the flow chart with the jet motion of the initial feeding and crude concentrate with the application of the air-steam mixture as the gas phase during the flotation, an increment in recovery of nickel was 2,93 % and copper – 3,22 %. The passage to the technology of jet air-steam flotation when concentrating dump slags of  OAO MMC «Norilsk Nickel» led to an increase in recovery of nickel from 45,94 to 47,34 % and copper from 78,27 to 82,77 %.

Temperature dependences of kinematic viscosity of high-entropy melts (HEM) of the composition, at %: Cu–20Sn–20Pb–20Bi–20Ga, Cu–50Sn, Cu–50Pb, Cu–50Ga, and Cu–50Bi are investigated in a temperature range from 1550 to 1300 °C. It is shown that melt overheating above a definite temperature (thom) leads to the appearance of viscosity hysteresis, which indicates the variation in the structural state of the HEM.  Values of thom for all studied samples are in limits of 925–1185 °C. It is found that heating of the HEM to definite temperatures (t*) leads to the variation in activation energy of viscous flow (Е) and entropy multiplier (A) in the Arrhenius equation: v = Aexp[E/(RT)]. Entropy of viscous flow (ΔS≠) for studied HEM is investigated in terms of the Airing theory. It is revealed that the magnitude of ΔS≠ for a five-component Cu–Sn–Pb–Bi–Ga melt in a cooling mode is smaller than during heating by a factor of 2,6. The found rheological characteristics of HEMs allow us to consider these melts as promising functional materials: solders, heat carriers, electric contacts.

Alternative notions on the reduction mechanism of crystalline metal oxides during the electrolysis of CaCl2 melts, which is actively discussed worldwide is scientific publications for recent 15 years, are described. It is shown based on the known experimental data on the nature of the Ca–CaCl2 solution and its reduction properties that metal oxides can reduce without the direct contact with the cathode in the volume of a homogeneous Ca–CaCl2 salt near cathode, i.e., catholyte. The reducing agent is calcium dissolved in a form of Ca+ cations in this case. In this case, the reaction surface area multiply increases, which favorably affects the course of heterophase chemical reactions. The method of introduction of Ca+ ions into the salt melt can be both by electrolysis of CaCl2 or due to the dissolution of metal calcium in this case, and it does not vary the essence of our process model.

The main directions of resource-saving and environment-saving technologies of fabrication of secondary aluminum alloys in modern industrial conditions are considered. The types of feedstocks and applied smelting aggregates are analyzed, and promising ways of the further improvement of this production process are shown. It is revealed that the traditional method of processing secondary aluminum feedstock, which is widely used in practice, is the thermal treatment in the medium of molten chloride salts. Salt-free technologies of processing aluminum dross, which are based on separation of metal and oxides by mechanical effect on them in conditions of high temperatures in the medium of the furnace atmosphere or collector metal, are proposed. Their advantages compared with a widespread salt technology are considered: materials applied to treat the melt are substantially lower-cost than alkali metal chlorides; dump slags are environmentally pure; the process has high productivity since it is performed in one metallurgical aggregate, which excludes the necessity to perform operations of cleaning the walls and bottom part in it. The examples of implementation of considered salt-free technologies of processing aluminum feedstock in conditions of several Russian metallurgical enterprises are shown.

The results of investigation into the metal–nonmetal interface during the formation of electrocontact rods by means of the effect of the high-strength pulsed magnetic field on the melt are presented. It is shown that the proposed magnetic-pulsed technology makes it possible to considerably lower the transient electric resistance between electrocontact rods and anode block of the electrolyzer due to an increase in contact density.

The quantitative data are established and main regularities of the distribution of the deformation mode when modeling forging using a radial forging machine with canting angles of 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°, and 180° and magnitudes of reductions of 10, 15, and 20 % are obtained by the finite-element method using the MSC.SuperForge program. It is shown that the degree of shear deformation is maximal at segments adjoining the billet surface and minimal in its central zone.

Algorithms of calculation of the design of a billet and stamping equipment for production of compressor blades of aircraft engines made of titanium alloys are developed. The proposed system of design makes it possible to automatically form the charts of cut and crimp dies, which considerably shortens the time of the manufacturing preparation of production. A detail analysis of the features of constructive elements of the blade is presented. The accepted limitations and manufacturing solutions allowed us to form the generalized algorithms for the formation of the surface of splitting the stamps over the loop contour for various configurations of stamped forgings. Algorithms and programs of calculation of three-dimensional coordinates of the points describing the configuration of the stamp cavity, base surfaces for establishment of control templates as well as the shape and scale sizes of the upper and lower stamp inserts. This was resulted in a generalized mathematical model of a final stamp in a form of a three-dimensional array of side points connected by edges in a form of straight lines or splines. It can serve for the formation of the design documentation of the production equipment and its control means.

The influence of relative reduction and difference in roughness of rolls to outstripping and bending in the vertical plane at the output from the rolls during rolling aluminum alloys using a DUO-180 mill is investigated in laboratory conditions. It is established that outstripping from the side of unpolished (upper) roll in larger than from the side of the polished (lower) one. It is shown that the forward sheet end bends in the vertical plane towards the roll with the larger diameter during the first and subsequent passages. The curvature of this bend increases as the shape index of the deformation region increases (lav/hav). The radius of sheet bending decreases while the curvature increases as the difference in diameters of working rolls (kR) increases.

The influence of density of polysterene foam models on the quality of thin-wall castings of the cap of the gas analyzer case made of AK7 alloy smelted based on wastes of home manufacture (the charge contained 50–55 % secondary materials) is investigated in conditions of LLC SPE «Vektor Mashinostroeniya» (Novokuznetsk). To foam polysterene (produced by «STYROCHEM», Montreal, Canada) and fabricate the models, a GK-100-3M autoclave was used. Varying temporal-and-time autoclave modes, we obtained different densities of the model ρ = 0,017, 0,019, 0,022, 0,024, and 0,026 g/cm3. Based on the experimental investigations, the values of this index (ρ = 0,022÷0,024 g/cm3), at which the model possesses the required surface quality, stiffness, and burnability promoting the minimization of linear defects (mismatch with required geometric sizes, seal, misrun) when fabricating thin-wall casts with specified properties, are determined and substantiated.

The influence of hydrogen alloying on the properties of briquettes fabricated from titanium sponge by compaction in a closed mold at temperatures of 170, 325, and 400 °C; and a pressure of 400 MPa. Our results show reasonability of using the hydrogen plasticizing effect when fabricating quasi-monolith billets from noncompact feedstock in a form of sponge by pressure treatment methods.

Free convection of the slag-metal melt («bath») in a furnace with a bubble layer during its blowing in a bubble and jet modes is investigated using a mathematical model. It is established that bath motion velocities average by the bulk are larger by orders of magnitude than the velocities of its pneumatic mixing with flows for lifting bubbles and gas-liquid jets. The mixing work of the melt during the free convection, which is mainly performed in the tuyere plane, is anisotropic. Its value in the vertical bath plane reaches 1,25 MJ/t, while in the horizontal plane—does not exceed 43 kJ/t.

Electrolytic production of aluminum from cryolite–alumina melts is accompanied by considerable emissions of fluorine compounds, which promote the appearance of the atmospheric corrosion of metal surfaces of industrial objects. To determine the influence of emissions on the corrosion stability of steel and zinc, the corrosion rate is determine in atmospheric falls (water obtained during melting the samples of freshly fallen snow (the analog of rain) or old snow cover, as well as atmospheric air contaminated by anthropogenic emissions) sampled at different distances from the Bratsk and Irkutsk aluminum plants. It is established that the corrosion rate decreases with distancing from industrial areas, and it is lower for zinced iron than for steel St3 by a factor of 2–3 under the same conditions.