Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
350
Temperature homogenisation
A UK producer of high nickel alloys (Monel, Inconel,
Incalloy) using a brick lined, five-tonne furnace had severe
erosion associated with excessive temperature on the
furnace barrel approximately 250mm up from the furnace
base. The introduction of argon gas via a gas diffuser
immediately eliminated this problem.
Calculation of the original temperature in this zone
indicated that it was in the order of 2,000C. This has
enabled the client to have a melt campaign on a lining
of two weeks where previously they were relining every
weekend.
Furnace Technology
average nitrogen was 0.033%. Lower nitrogen
returns were subsequently recycled back to
the furnace, the figure then falling to 0.022%.
There have been significant cost savings
from the massive reduction in scrap rate and
also in not having to remelt accumulated own
arisings and degass in an AOD.
Cleaner metal
A US foundry specialising in NiHard and
NiResist irons together with a wide range
of steel alloys for wear parts applications
has reported a significant reduction in nonmetallic inclusions since introducing the gas
purging process to its induction furnace. The
first indication of this came via the furnace
operatives who reported that the volume of
slag appeared to be greater on melts treated
with argon. Subsequent metallographic
examination confirmed cleaner metal.
A Dutch foundry manufacturing castings
for the North Sea oil industry was an early
proponent of the gas diffuser system after
trials showed improvements in impact
strength of steel thus treated due to
reduction in inclusion count.
351
Furnace Technology
(1)
Characteristics
and parameters on
castables
Refractoriness
352
refractory is a phenomenon of
major importance. Infiltration
of liquid into a refractory
can be divided into two main
cases. These are infiltration of
a capillary system by a wetting
liquid (slag at the upper part
of channel furnace bath for
example) or penetration of nonwetting liquid under pressure
(iron at the bottom of vessel for
example.
Looking at the parameters
influencing infiltration depth
of slag against time, it is
clear that only the equivalent
radius Re is a physical
refractory parameter that has
a direct influence and must be
taken into consideration for
castable selection or ranking.
Access to Re can be achieved
using a simple test method
consisting of measuring
infiltration depth of the oil
with well-known rheological
characteristics (selected to be
close to estimated physical
characteristics of slags at
operating temperature) at room
temperature against time.
Infiltration speed, values of
Re, as far as total accessible
porosity for the tested castables
after treatment at operation
temperature can thus be
established.
Values of Re may vary with
treatment temperature and
time for a given castable, as
the capillary structure may
change with sintering time.
This is particularly the case for
castable containing fume silica,
closing porosity and modifying
tortuosity after long sintering
time, resulting in a strong
reduction of infiltration speed.
Characteristics and
parameters on slags
One of the first physical
characteristics of slag to
take into consideration is its
viscosity. This characteristic
cannot be easily measured or
estimated from data banks for
complex slag composition.
However, one way for
getting an initial feeling and
ranking of slag consistency
Furnace Technology
at a given temperature, is to
measure deformation and
flow temperature using hot
microscopy.
Ranking of slag capability
to infiltrate castable (ranking
of viscosity) can also be finetuned taking into account
potential slag modifications
during infiltration of
refractory (modification due
to temperature decrease
against infiltration depth or
chemical composition changes
due to refractory component
dissolution).
Testing modified slags (for
example those containing
increased amount of manganese
oxides or SiO2, MgO, Cr2O3
etc gives an initial first idea
about slag viscosity changes
that can results from process
modification. Examples of these
include increase of manganese
oxides level in slag due to
changes of quality melted or
from dissolution of refractory
compound (SiO2, MgO or Cr2O3
from castable additives) during
slag penetration.
Characteristics and
parameters on system
castable plus slag
As previously mentioned,
gap to saturation Cs-C is an
important parameter describing
the system (refractory: slag)
and governing the speed of
dissolution. Nevertheless
this parameter is difficult
to access without powerful
thermodynamical calculation
tools, and anyway only
describes the behavior
of individual refractory
components and not the global
refractory behavior. Thus
several more easily accessible
characteristics of the systems
(refractory:slag) are listed
below, that can be considered
as providing a global picture
of the chemical compatibility
of the systems, and thus a first
way of ranking castables.
Refractoriness of the
system (slag-matrix)
The composition of this
system can be approximated
353
Furnace Technology
Moisture, ash content and ash composition
of coke
It is clear that high moisture and ash contents will
increase coke consumption because the energy
carrier carbon will decrease accordingly. The water
content of the coke should certainly be measured
from time to time in order to be aware that any
unexpected higher coke consumption could be
attributable to the increased moisture in the coke.
Coke ash contains mainly silica and alumina,
therefore acting strongly acidic. The higher the SiO2
/ CaO ratio the more limestone has to be charged
to reach the required basicity. Addition of limestone
means higher coke consumption, a higher slag
rate and the decomposition of limestone into lime
and CO2 according to CaCO3 => CaO + CO2 which
requires energy.
Besides the coke properties, other effects also
influence coke consumption.
Pre-heating zone
Pre-heating the scrap charge to its melt
temperature has to be accomplished above
the coke bed. The height of the cupola shaft
has therefore to be designed according to
the size and composition of the metallic
materials that are to be processed.
Steel scrap of large dimensions in
particular may not reach the required melt
temperature in short shafts being typically
designed for small shredder scrap, pig
iron and returns. In these cases the hearth
suffers from heat deficiency that has to be
compensated by additional coke.
Manual of
Foundry
Technology
The complete manual can be purchased at a
cost of 30.00 (ICME Member) or 110.00 (nonmember). Alternatively individual chapters may
be purchased at a cost of 15.00 each.
Postage and package should be added at 15%
of total order price (surface mail). Airmail prices
should be sought from ICME bookshop.
Tel: +44 (0) 1568 797111.
Fax: +44 (0) 1568 797197.
Email: icmebookshop@rivers-media.co.uk
354
Maximum
efficiency may
be achieved by
incorporating the
furnace chargers
into the original
plant design
355
Furnace Technology
the furnace.
Charging devices for the feeding of
rotary furnaces
This version, used in aluminium
melting plants, is different from the
types used for induction furnaces
because the charge is typically press
bales made from aluminium sheet,
shredded aluminium scrap and a
covering salt.
Key feature is the elongated
discharge chute nozzle that leads
into the centrically arranged feeding
opening in the rotary furnace during
the feeding process. In order to avoid
temperature losses within the furnace,
the charging process has to take place
quickly. For this reason the vibrating
conveyors operate at high amplitudes,
allowing a high conveying speed.
The chute is highly stressed due to
the highly dynamic bending moments
resulting from the extensive thermal
load as well as un-calculable loads
arising from collisions caused by the
rotation of the furnace with nonsmelted aluminium compressed bales.
The endurance strength in the chute
area can be significantly influenced
by the design engineer who has to
maximise the structural strength
without increasing the weight.
Furthermore, the application of highquality, heat-resistant material offers a
favourable effect.
As the materials do not melt as
quickly as demanded, the travelling
gear of the machine is temporary
used to feed the furnace by powerful
backwards and forwards movements
with additional aluminium bales. The
installation of an all-wheel driven
travelling gear has been well proven in
this mode of operation.
The consideration of an exhaust
cover to reduce the dust and smoke
emissions is more complicated
than that for a crucible furnace.
Nevertheless, it is possible to install
an efficient multi-gap exhaust device
in the front section of the bin.
The electrical control is executed,
depending on customer needs, using
the conventional relay technique
or the PLC. The execution of power
supply must be paid particular
attention as it can be provided using a
spring-loaded cable reel, a trail cable
or an energy chain. The spring-loaded
cable reel is often chosen due to its
stability.
Jst GmbH;
Tel: (+49) 2590 98208 202;
Fax: (+49) 2590 98101;
email: info@joest.com
www.joest.com
356
The advantages of
oil fired crucibles
Over some decades now, the availability
of natural gas and the comparatively low
energy running cost of modern gas-fired
and electric furnaces has resulted in a
sharp decline in the overall demand for
oil fired units. However, Morganite Molten
Metal Systems, continues to offer a range of
products for those parts of the world unable
to access gas or power electricity.