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Comparison of Zn Loss in Traditional Brass Melting Furnace used by Brassware

Artisans and in Energy Efficient Brass Melting Furnace

Article · July 2015

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Randhir Kumar Singh D. Mandal

Malaviya National Institute of Technology Jaipur National Institute of Technology, Durgapur
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R. K. Singh1, D. Mandal2 and K. L. Sahoo3+
1
CSIR Ph.D. Student, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, India , 2Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India, 3CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur, India
+
 
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ƒ"Œ} 4 
‚ –ƒ"Œ}4‚`       

         
    
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advantages. This report also compares the Zn loss that occurred at different dwell times during melting of brass in the
  
   +      
prepared in either of the furnaces are also compared.

Introduction  >         E

phase at high temperature. Alloys with 46.6% to 50.6% Zn
+    
 
are beta (E) brasses having the body-centered cubic (bcc)
in India since the period of Indus Valley Civilisation. In
disordered structure. In general, alloys containing more
India, the brass and bell metal hand-crafts
are available from different places across
the country specially from Tamil Nadu, Uttar
‡ 'Ž  |   <  €

\       = 
and type of products that the artisans
manufacture. Moradabad cluster in Uttar
‡    ‡  }
 ™
  

items artifacts, mainly decorative items, idols
and toys[1-2]. It is believed that the brassware
 
   
   4 
spread to the rest of the world. The brass
 < €
   
™ 
+ 
  
are mainly made up of brass or bell metals.
+     ~    
where Zn could be present upto a maximum of
50%. Figure 1 illustrates industrially important
part of Cu-Zn phase diagram. Copper alloys
   
 ]ˆ‰~  
 

(D) phase (Fig. 1), are called alpha-brasses
(hypo-peritectic brasses). The alloys having
Zn between 36% and 46.6% are called alpha-
beta (D-E) brasses or hyper-peritectic brasses.
Alloys in this region have limited cold ductility

33
Indian Foundry Journal Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015
Zn than 42% are more brittle and have no commercial The brassware artisans use D-E brass which contains
use. around 60% Cu and rest Zn. The Zn loss in the


B

"


+ traditional melting furnace leads to serious metallurgical



 



The properties of any brass depend on the volume of
different phases present in it. The D-E brass has two-
phase structure containing D + E phase. As the E-phase
is harder and more brittle at room temperature, D + E
brasses are stronger having higher wear resistance, but
dull. At present, the artisans involved in this practice are
also facing a grim economic situation due to dumping
of foreign products which are low cost and have better
aesthetic appeal. As a result, the brassware artisans are
being forced to opt out of their age-old profession.
 

 
 

 < 

 These artisans need technological intervention for their
8000C, it becomes a single E-phase where it can be easily sustenance. CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory


 
+ –ƒ"Œ}4‚` "  
  

 

E 
   


 +  the traditional technology through implementation
    
     

  of appropriate innovation for brassware cluster. For
state. The D-phase precipitates on cooling at E-phase greater acceptability of the innovation to the practising
boundaries. The relative amount of D and E-phases can brassware artisans, the existing traditional furnace was
be varied by the rate of cooling. Faster cooling retains  +


 
larger amounts of E-phase, which has higher hardness were reported in our earlier publication[5]. The effect of
and machinability, whereas slower cooling results in melting time on Zn loss in the traditional furnace and in
larger amounts of D-phase resulting in larger ductility[3].

 
 


The tensile strength and yield strength increases with in the literature earlier. In this paper, the advantages of
increase in the Zn content, upto a maximum (at 45% 
 
    
 

Zn) till the alloy has all brittle E-phase which causes loss of Zn in the traditional brass meting furnace and
considerable decrease in ductility. 

 

+ 
   
 ~  

 
 

 The effect of Zn loss on the structure and properties of
characteristics of brass is well-documented in the brass artifacts is also discussed.
literature[4] †
  ~  

 –ž?ˆ‰`
 
 
+
#

J

       
   
 


brass casting temperature. The colour of the brass The schematic of the traditional furnace (TF) is shown in

  
 ž?ˆ‰ Ÿ      
 
?"
 


†

Ÿ

^{‰~ brass and bell metal, and coal is used for melting
     + 
  
 
 aluminium alloys. The construction and maintenance


 



  cost of such furnaces are very low and are very popular

 

  


ƒ 
 
 
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+







Ÿ
†
~ 
  


! 

slightly less than 40%, the properties are ideal. The metal     +      

 



 


 chamber and an ash chamber. A grid made of steel bars


 

[4]. is placed in between the combustion chamber and ash



*
† 
<



 either manually or electrically is used to blow air into the



 



* combustion chamber through the ash pit.
   

     
 
 

  ~ †


 +  


  

 
furnace remains open to atmosphere during melting, _– `
 
 – `

 



 



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† 

   
   

>  !
 


  
 > 
>  !
   
   

 

   


 

    
 ~

 the surrounding area polluted; (iii) the artisans are directly

†
 
~ Ÿ  >






oxide powders are deposited around the furnace.

  
 
   – ` 
 

 ~ 

34
Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015 Indian Foundry Journal
 base and walls of the
  
completed. A cylindrical
melting chamber is
prepared in the middle
of the furnace by placing
a graphite crucible of
suitable capacity on the
    
grid. After placing the
crucible in the centre of
the combustion chamber
of the furnace, the gap
between the crucible and
      
ensure that the crucible
remains in the centre of
furnace and is heated
vapour comes out of the furnace; the artisans inhale such uniformly. A lid made of
vapour (v) cold air is blown into the furnace for burning mild steel is used to cover the   

 *  
  
     – ` of outgoing hot gases. A preheater fabricated from mild
higher oxidation loss of molten metal.          Ž    


+
#

J wall such that the air for combustion gets preheated
when it passes through the preheater to the combustion
As the existing traditional brass melting furnace is fuel- chamber by the outgoing hot gases as shown in Fig. 3.
       
The furnace can be used for melting Al-alloys and other
 
   
  

non-ferrous materials including brass for producing
    + 
     
artifacts and other castings.
heat recovery system and provision of a chamber for
 ~ >  
suspended particulate matter
(SPM). The schematic diagram of

     
  
furnace is shown in Fig. 3. The

    

furnace is prepared by digging

   ! 
for ease of operation by the
  }    
are used to build the furnace. A
=
       
      
ash pit that demarcates the ash
pit and combustion chamber. The
grid acts as supporting medium
    +  
   


  
by layer. A layer of locally available
clay coating is applied on the
35
Indian Foundry Journal Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015
The energy     
    †  
      
following advantages; 
      
+  =          
 
– ` Œ   
     ?9?{‰ 
   +  
      
(ii) Reduction in melting time by 20-30% depending
          +    
upon the capacity of the furnace; (iii) Considerably less
  
 + 

toxic emissions during melting; (iv) The top of furnace
cleaned thoroughly for further processing and defects, if
 
   >  > !
any, are repaired.
along with heavy suspended particulate matter; (v) The
oxidation loss of materials is much less as the melt does Samples for chemical analyses and microstructural
not come in direct contact of the outside air[5].         
  €    
ƒ4 
    
    ¡
Melting Procedure
 –ƒ`     
€       
       \    
brass melting furnaces follow the identical melting  
“    
Q

procedures. Initially, the furnace is lit by a few pieces of load. The results are discussed in the following section.
 
+ 
 
  
 †   Q


>

+
#
V



 
     
    +"
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      +

     Heat No. +
Coke Coke Dwell
      Addition Addition Addition Period
(kg) in TF (kg) in EFMF (Minutes)
 
     †      (kg)
  
           
1 2 0.30 0.25 12
    = >  
+
brass pieces and scrap in the crucible are heated to a 2 2 0.35 0.30 14
temperature of about 950-10000C, so that the melting 3 2 0.40 0.35 16
 €>–}2€4O7.10H2O) may be used
4 2 0.45 0.40 18
!>      
and minimise Zn loss during melting. Experiments were Results and Discussion
carried out to compare Zn loss in both the furnaces i.e.,
Compositional Analysis
  –+`
   
furnace (EEMF) at varying dwell periods of melting. Here, €   ƒ  
the dwell period of melting indicates the time from carried out. The results of these two methods were almost
charging the ingot in the crucible to the time when the identical. Samples were cut from the ingot by using the
         +  
    +   
carried out for different dwell period such as 12 mins, 14 chips for the wet chemical analysis. The EDS analysis
 Qˆ Q;    Ÿ 
 was carried out on the same polished samples that
 
  
          + were used for microstructural study. The average initial
temperature of the furnace during the entire experiment composition of raw brass ingot consists of 44.56 wt.%
was nearly constant. The experimental details at different of Zn, 55.12 wt.% Cu and 0.32 wt.% of Fe. The chemical
compositions of samples of the product obtained from
dwell times for both the furnaces are summarised in
       
   
+Q"=  {9

are summarised in Table-2. These results are also plotted
>        "   
in Fig. 4, which shows that variation of composition (Cu
         
and Zn) with different dwell periods of melting time.
           
<   
    
   
        
   
           
traditional furnace. constant.

36
Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015 Indian Foundry Journal
  X

V"
 

+
'


The chemical compositions of the product


 
J

states that it falls in the category of yellow

brass containing 23–41% Zn as the major
Traditional  

Dwell alloying element. During melting, Zn vaporises

Furnace: Chemical #
J

Sample Period of Analysis (wt.%) Chemical Analysis  

  
     + ~ 
No. Melting (wt.%) vaporisation can be minimised by the addition
(Minutes) of small amount of Al (0.15 to 0.35%) which also
Cu Zn Fe Cu Zn Fe
 !     

01 12 60.31 39.33 0.36 56.54 43.11 0.35
arises with increase in Al content[6].
02 14 63.31 36.31 0.38 58.68 40.96 0.36
It is observed that Zn loss increases with increase
03 16 63.65 35.98 0.37 60.39 39.19 0.42
in the dwell time in samples prepared from both
04 18 66.08 33.51 0.41 60.92 38.73 0.45 TF and EEMF but the Zn loss was comparatively
more in samples prepared from the TF. Top of the
traditional furnace is open and hence, the melt is in
contact with the atmospheric oxygen. So, Zn loss is more
  
   

where the top of the furnace opening is closed.
Microstructure
The samples were cut from the brass ingots, which were
melted in both TF and EEMF at different dwell period
of melting time and cast in preheated moulds. The
samples were polished and etched for metallographic
examination. The etchant used was a mixture of 50%
distilled water and 50% HNO3.
The representative optical microstructures of the brass
samples prepared in TF and EEMF with different dwell
time is shown in Fig. 5(a-d). These samples were air-
cooled. The fast cooling rate changed the morphology to
 ™<   
microstructure.
The D phase precipitates out of the single E-phase during
cooling to give D plates in a E matrix. The plates form in
order to minimise strain energy. Almost all the samples
 <        >   
areas where the structure showed dendritic, which
           
with respect to small perturbations. This results in the
growth of the perturbations, producing dendrites. This
type of structure is seen in brass with 35 wt.% of Zn[6].
The SEM micrographs throw more light on the
morphology of the precipitates. SEM images of brass at
500X prepared from TF and EEMF with varying melting
time are compared in Fig 6(a-d). On comparing the
microstructure, it is revealed that more number of pores
is present in the brass samples prepared from the TF
than that in the samples prepared in EEMF. It is observed
that the oxygen content increases with the increase in
Fig. 4 : Variation of chemical compositions with different
the dwell time for samples prepared in the traditional
dwell period of melting time (a) Cu and (b) Zn content.
furnace.

37
Indian Foundry Journal Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015
 Fig. 5: Representative optical microscopy images of samples prepared from TF and EEMF.

Fig. 6 : Representative SEM images of samples prepared from TF and EEMF.

38
Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015 Indian Foundry Journal
Hardness
The hardness of brass samples
prepared from both the TF and
EEMF at different dwell times was
measured. The hardness values are
summarised in Fig. 7. The hardness
value in the samples prepared from
TF decreases with the increase in the
dwell time, which indicates that the
hardness decreases with decrease in
Ÿ  ‰ €      
time of 18 minutes showed increase
in the hardness value, it may be due
to presence of excessive formation
of oxide phases in it. The hardness
remained almost same at all dwell
time in the samples prepared from
the EEMF as the loss of Zn from the
molten brass during the melting was minimised. it was observed that the Zn loss increases with
increase in the dwell time.
Conclusions
References
From above results and discussion, the following
conclusion are drawn: 1. Amar Tyagi, Let’s Know: Handicraft of India, Star
Publications UK, 2008, p.16-20.
Q +         
 

           ?  _**
* ¢
reduces pollution in the surrounding atmosphere as moradabad.html
compared to that by the traditional brass melting 3. Physical Metallurgy, Vijendra Singh, Publisher:
furnace (TF). ƒ ‡ £    "ƒ€}_;Q;ˆ]9;
?      
     63-6, 2002, p. 660.

   –4` ^ 4 4  Œ   4 
   
 
to that in the TF. €ƒ$   ‡+‘
3. In EEMF, the artisans are not exposed to the hot The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,

 
!
       
 March 2002, p. 109-114.
the air supplied for combustion. 5. D. Mandal, Palash Poddar, K.K. Paul, K. L. Sahoo,
4. Zinc fume is arrested in the chamber because of the 
    € 4 
 ‡   † ‡
closed system. This not only minimises Zn loss due >۠ " 
to volatilisation of Zn in the outgoing fumes, but Journal, 2014, 60 (1), p. 41-45.
  ~   6. Luca Collini, Copper Alloys – Early Applications
5. Zn loss was more in TF than in the EEMF and also and Current Performance – Enhancing Processes,
Published by In-Tech, 2012.

39
Indian Foundry Journal Vol 61  No. 7  July 2015

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