Surface tension and density of the copper-rich Cu-Pb-Fe alloys

Tomasz Sak, Józef Czernecki, Piotr Madej, Grzegorz Krawiec, Stanisław Pietrzyk, Łukasz Kortyka

The slag from flash smelting of the copper concentrates from HM Głogów is subjected to decoppering process in the electric furnace in order to obtain the Cu-Pb-Fe alloy. The composition of the examined alloys was similar to those produced during decoppering process in an industrial electric furnace. The measurements were performed for the alloys of a constant Cu content XCu = 0.9; 0.8 and 0.7 and the corresponding Pb ad Fe content, so that XPb + XFe = 0.1; 0.2 and 0.3. The density of the alloys was determined using the dilatometric method, where the length of the sample increased with temperature. The surface tension was determined using the sessile drop technique, where the X-ray images were processed with a computer programs in order to determine the coordinates of the points located on the surface of the cross-section of the drop. The surface tension was determined based on the drop shape using the Laplace equation. The surface tension was also calculated using the Butler model, and the results were compared to the experimental data. The presented results provide information on the density and surface tension of the Cu-Pb-Fe alloys and can be useful during the modeling of the slag decoppering process in the electric furnace.