Silicon carbide briquettes for cupola furnaces
Silicon carbide briquetting for the cupola process provides these benefits:
- One of great importance for our life on Earth, through the management of waste materials containing silicon carbide, such as various types of sludge or scrap from abrasive tools and refractory products,
Briquetted silicon carbide has an appropriate shape convenient for devices loading these briquettes into cupolas, their strength preventing the briquettes from crumbling in contact with scrap metal when loaded into the cupola and moving the charge inside the cupola, and weight allowing the briquettes to pass the slag zone and immerse entirely in the molten metal, and the precise weight of the basic raw material in the briquette – usually 1kg Si for briquettes of rectangular shape (cubes). - Briquetted waste materials containing SiC have a beneficial influence on the economics of cupola processes due to their significantly lower price as compared to the same raw materials of the first grade.
Calculation of a cupola charge using SiC briquettes is simple because one briquette is 1 kg of silicon.
A common binder used in silicon carbide briquetting is cement, which contributes additional free calcium reducing the amount of limestone used.