Nexara Stars is a melt shop that fits in your pocket. You load a charge from real foundry stock, set the furnace the way you would in a real shop, and the melt is resolved step by step β element by element, kilogram by kilogram β until an ingot comes out with a chemistry you can read, judge and explain.
CHARGE IT LIKE A REAL SHOP
Build π¨ a charge from 27 stock materials: mild steel scrap, cast iron returns, 304 turnings, copper cathode, zinc and tin ingots, ferrosilicon, ferromanganese, ferrochrome, ferromolybdenum, master alloys and more. The composition rebalances live as you type β¨οΈ each mass, and the charge liquidus is computed before you ever light the furnace.
SET SEVEN THINGS AND LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES
Furnace type β¨οΈ, cover gas, melt temperature, hold time β±οΈ, stirring, deoxidiser and charge condition. Every one of them changes the metal. Superheat a brass melt in open air and watch π the zinc boil away β charge exactly 70/30 and you can pour 75/25 and miss the grade. Put a flux cover on it, drop the superheat, shorten the hold, and the same charge lands dead in spec at over 99% yield.
READ THE MELT AS IT HAPPENS
Eight stages, from charge loaded to solidification, each with the numbers π’ behind it: oxygen demand, deoxidiser consumed, slag forming, per-element losses split between what oxidised and what boiled off, yield, poured mass.
A VERDICT THAT EXPLAINS ITSELF
β’ Final chemistry across 16 tracked elements
β’ As-cast hardness, tensile and yield strength, elongation, density, liquidus, solidus and freezing range
β’ Steel: carbon equivalent and weldability, PREN and corrosion class, structure, machinability
β’ Copper alloys: zinc equivalent, phase, electrical conductivity
β’ Aluminium alloys: designation series, heat-treatability, castability
β’ Defect scan for hot shortness, gas porosity, oxide inclusions, segregation, cracking risk and zinc boil-off β each naming the number π’ that caused it
JUDGED AGAINST REAL GRADES
23 alloy specifications ship with the app π± β 1018, 1045, 4140, 4340, 6150, 8620, 52100, 304, 316, 410, gray and ductile iron, cartridge and free π-cutting brass, phosphor and tin and aluminium bronze, 6061, 356.0, A380, 5052, 7075. Every element is checked against its range and the deviations are reported to the second decimal. Add your own house specs too.
OR WORK IT BACKWARDS
Name a target π― grade and the app π± solves the charge for you: which of your materials, in what masses, to land inside spec after the losses it expects. It shows its reasoning line by line, then verifies the recipe by melting it. Each grade in the list π carries a live feasibility badge read from what is actually on your shelf β ready to melt, short by a named material, or missing an element entirely.
KEEP THE SHOP
Stock levels drop as you melt and go back up when you restock. Add materials, edit their compositions, keep your own alloys.
LOG EVERY HEAT π
Rename it, annotate it, attach a photo πΈ of the pour, and export π€ a spec card straight to your gallery πΌοΈ in one tap π. Put two heats side by side and the app tells you which input differences drove which output differences. Shop analysis tracks your in-spec rate, yield and cost trends, which elements you lose most, and which defects keep coming back.
TUNED TO YOU
Work in metric or imperial. Choose how conservative the loss model should be, and every prediction in the app π± follows.
For metallurgy and foundry students, casting hobbyists, machinists, jewellers, backyard smelters and anyone who has ever wondered where the zinc went. Values are computed predictions for as-poured metal, using published formulas β a thinking tool π οΈ, not a substitute for a laboratory analysis.
Charge the crucible. Fire the furnace. Find out what you actually poured.