Furnaces concept for the production of copper rod

Copper wire is normally produced on melting and casting lines containing a shaft furnace for melting copper cathodes. This is followed by a slag box from which the melt flows into a gas-fired holding furnace and finally into the caster. The customer of the plant illustrated made the following demands on us for his new copper wire production line:

The line should have a clear distinction between treated and untreated melt
It should be possible to check and set the temperature of the melt at any point on the line
Only compensation of heat losses and slight heating of the melt should take place
All furnaces should ensure a good mixing of the melts and thus provide a homogeneous melt
The furnace atmosphere should be precisely controllable
The melting and casting line should be comprehensively automated

In view of the customer’s demands and the demands of the process, we developed the melting and casting line shown here. From the shaft furnace, the melt flows into an induction heated deslagging furnace and then into an induction heated rotary furnace which serves as a storage furnace with a buffer function. When required, the rotary furnace meters the melt into the induction heated casting furnace with forehearth. During filling, deoxidation with CuP takes place automatically. Finally the copper is metered into the casting plant under stopper control.

Download Brochure Drum type induction furnace for melting and holding (PDF)