GB557868A - Improvements in processes and apparatus for the production and consolidation of metals and alloys - Google Patents

Abstract

557,868. Extracting iron and other metals; alloys; metal forging; moulding. STEVENS, A. H. (Minerals & Metals Corporation). March 12, 1941, No. 3377. [Classes 72 and 82 (i)] [Also in Groups V and XXII] In the reduction of ores for the production of metals or alloys, finely concentrated ore is reduced directly at a temperature below both the melting and sintering temperatures of the metal to be produced and the metallic powder produced is compressed in a protective atmosphere into a self-sintering mass while the powder is still hot from the reducing operation. The gangue may be separated, e.g. by magnetic concentration, from the metal between the reducing and compressing steps in a non-oxidizing atmosphere and carbon or powdered alloying metals added to the metal powder at this stage and after the separation. Alternatively in the production of iron alloys.oxides of the alloying metals may be added to the iron ores before reduction . The ore 8, free from gangue, is fed on to the hearth 10 of the reducing chamber 2 of the furnace 4 and flows therealong, being acted upon by reducing gases which pass obliquely through the ore bed through orifices 12 to which they are fed by conduits 14. A predetermined minimum depth of ore is maintained. on the hearth by a dam 15 over which the reduced ore flows into a shoot 16 connected to the furnace. The metal particles 24 fall between briquetting rolls 18, 20 enclosed in a casing 26 and provided with half-moulds 22, Fig. 2, and the consolidated metal 27 falls on to a conveyer 28 contained within a casing 30 and is passed either to an electric or open hearth furnace, where, if iron ore is treated, the iron is converted into steel or to a storage' bin for further treatment. In a modification, Fig. 4, the reduced metal falling down the shoot 16 is cooled down by blasts of reducing gas introduced through lower perforations 42 and perforations 44 in the side of the shoot 16, the gas streams from the latter perforations being inclined as shown. To assist in the separation of any gangue which may still be sticking to the metal, magnets 40 on the shoot 16 cause the metal to move towards the wall on which the magnets are and the metal then falls down the shoot 16, the freed gangue passing away by a shoot 36. The metal is converted into a sheet by rollers 46, 48 which is further compressed by the 4-roll arrangement 50, 52, 54, 56, the sheet then passing over rollers 60, the whole being enclosed in a casing 58. The compacted metal may be extruded through a die or may be introduced into a heated container and both the latter and its contents extruded through a die.