Crucible containing Fire bricks metal Concrete lining Fig. 1.4 1.18.2 Oil and Gas Fired Furnaces : Pit furnace . As the name indicates, these furnaces utilise oil or gas as a fuel. . Infact a mixture of oil and air or gas and air is fed into the furnace, which bums inside to produce the required temperature. * While burning, the mixture enters tangentially and encircles the crucible. * The furnace consists of a cylindrical steel shell, having refractory lining inside and proper passage for entry of the fuel mixture. The crucible is placed on a pad, formed at the bottom. . To prevent heat loss, a cover is provided at the top. . These furnaces may be of tilting type or stationary type. ‘* Fig. 1.42 shows a stationary type gas fixed furnace. To atmosphere Cover Refractory lining Gas and air af y Fig. 1.42: Gas fired crucible furnace Scanned ith CamSeannerMetal Casting Processes Spark arrester eS Refractory __ lining Ee i | Changing — Stack door ‘Charging platform Coke bed Blast pipe — ‘Melting zone Reducing zone Wind belt ‘Combustion zone Fig, 1.43 : Cupola furnace © A cupola using 10:1 ratio of iron to coke, consumes 800-950 m’ of air to melt one ton: of iron. A slag is located at a level of about 250 mm below the centre of the tuyeres.‘Scanned wth CamScanner‘Scanned wth CamScanner————— {c) Charging of cupola : (d) (e) After igniting the coke bed properly, the cupola is charged from the charging door, by using alternate layers of limestone, iron and coke upto the level of charging door Flux is a substance which aids in forming slag to remove impurities and retards iron oxidation, lowering the melting point of the slag and increasing its fluidity The ratio of metal to fuel by weight ranges from 4: 1 to 12:1 Metal charge may consist of 30% pig iron, 30% cast iron scrap, about 10% steel serap and about 30% returns i.e. sprue, gates sers, etc, Charging should be completed 45 minutes to | hour, before the air blast is turned on. . After charging is over, it is kept as such for about 20 to 50 minutes so that the charge is heated up with natural draft. During soaking period, blowers are not started. At the end of soaking period, the blast is tumed on and the coke becomes fairly hot to melt the metal charge, The melting process starts about 10 minutes after blast is started. Molten metal will appear at the hole. During this period, tap and slag holes are closed with a thin mixture of moulding sand bolt. Molten iron is allowed to collect for about 5 minutes. Slagging and metal tapping : After enough molten metal has been collected, the slag hole is opened and slag is removed. The bolt inserted in the tap hole is knocked out and molten metal is taken out. As air blast continues, melting progresses and molten iron is tapped. The tap hole is sealed with a conical clay plug (bolt), as soon as the slag appears in the tap hole, Repeat the slagging and tapping, till all the metal is tapped. _AS soon as heating is finished, charging is stopped and the blast is shut off. Scanned ith CamSeanner. Bottom doors are dropped, allowing them to fall on * The water is sprayed on the remains and removed fi 1.19.3 Zones in Cupola : The various zone of cupola are marked in Fig. 1.43, and they are d (a) Well: * _ Itisa sort of well of molten metal, . It is situated between the tapered rammed sand bottom an tuyeres. (b) Combustion or oxidation zone : This zone is situated 15 to 30 cm above the top of the tuyeres, In this zone, as combustion is carried out, all the oxygen in | here, J * Therefore, a lot of heat is liberated and supplied from here to 0 . ‘The chemical reactions that take place in this zone are : C+, (from air) —> CO, + Heat 2Mn + O, (from air) > 2MnO, + Heat Si +0, (from air) — SiO, + Heat . The temperature of this zone varies from 1540°C to 1840°C., (c) Reduction zone : . This zone is also called as protection zone. CO, + C (coke) > 2C0 — ic ‘Scanned wth CamSceer‘Scanned wth CamScanner