It’s including material preparation, operation of melting furnace, transition house(middle furnace) and holding furnace, casting rod, take up rod, cooling water system ,electrical power system and other requirements.

Part I Raw material and supporting material requirements

1.  Raw material requirement

1) Requirement of copper cathode

The upward continuous casting plant is to melt and cast copper rod , can’t refine copper ,so the copper cathode should meet the standard to ensure the quality of bright oxygen-free copper rod ,  and the Cu+Ag ≥99.95.

2) Requirement of bright electrical wire and cable scrap and copper rice

● Must be bright, can’t include oxides, plastics, iron, tin, aluminum and other impurities.

● Bright wire and cable scrap must be packed and compressed into blocks.

2. Requirement of supporting material

1) Charcoal requirements:

It’s used for liquid surface covering of melting furnace or holding furnace, the kerf of the charcoal should be blare and bright, cut with a slivery sound.

 ● White charcoal of high quality（named steel charcoal, pear charcoal）

 ●  Moisture：0.5～1%

 ●  Other volatile：≤5%

 ●  Charcoal granularity：30～70mm

 ● Any charcoal with S, Fe and without being calcined is not allowed.

2) Graphite flake requirements

It’s used for covering the liquid surface of the holding furnace

● Type :3299

● Granularity:32 Mesh

● Quality requirement: Natural graphite flake

3. Cooling water requirement

The requirement of cooling water quality: it will be ok if the water quality meets with the requirement of soft boiler water.

● Suspended solid:≤5 mg/L

● Hardness: ≤0.03 mmol/L

● PH (25℃) :≥7     

Part II The operation of melting and holding furnace

1. The operation of melting furnace

1) The raw material is qualified copper cathode and clean, non-greasy copper rod which produced by the unit (recycled copper rod must be mechanically packed into blocks, the weight is about 30kg).

2) Put the qualified copper cathode and recycled copper rod on the furnace cover for about 10 minutes to preheat and remove surface water, and remove the green attachment of copper cathode surface with iron brush.

3) When feeding, open the furnace cover and check whether there is any un-melted copper ,if yes, stir slightly with wooden stick and melt it down, then use the electric hoist to put the whole copper cathode plate into the copper liquid gently, then close the furnace cover after complete melting, and pay attention closely to the temperature change of the copper liquid.

4) Add the copper cathode, if add the recycled copper rod, should be added after adding copper cathode, to be added after the furnace temperature rise, the addition quantity is 10%~30% of copper cathode , when the copper rod quality is stable and qualified premise, the recycled copper rod can be appropriately increased, but must be tested timely.

5) Feeding frequently to ensure that the height of the copper liquid level, feeding time interval should be consistent. Less and frequency adding to reduce the temperature change of copper liquid. The temperature is controlled by feeding, and the liquid level is controlled by the traction speed, keep the balance between the feeding input and the rod output.

6) In the melting furnace, the surface of copper liquid should be covered with baked charcoal with a thickness of 80~100mm.Charcoal ash should clean in time. When clean ash, pull open the unburnt charcoal carefully, and clean charcoal ash with spoon or shovel, and cover the original baked charcoal then add new charcoal to avoid direct contact with copper liquid or copper liquid area is exposed to air condition.(cleaning ash time : one time of every 8 hours shift; every 12 hours shift, clean per 6 hours; if use recycled copper rod, clean per 4 hours. If there’s less than 30mm thickness of baked charcoal in the furnace, add new charcoal and clean charcoal ash)

7) Ash cleaning tools must be coated and used after drying to prevent stick copper or copper liquid stick iron. Not allow wet and undried tools to be immersed in the copper liquid to prevent the copper liquid from exploding and causing accidents.

Coating method, the tool preheat to 150~200℃ then coat brush or spray on the tool, and then put on the furnace mouth for drying.

● Coating formula

● Graphite powder: 25%~30%

● Glass water : 5%

● Water：appropriate

2. The operating of holding furnace

1) The temperature of copper liquid of holding furnace is controlled about 1150℃ when use copper cathode as raw material.

2) The copper liquid surface of the holding furnace is covered with graphite flake or charcoal. When cover with graphite flake ,the thickness around the crystallizer is 80~100mm, and the thickness around the silicon carbide float is 60~80mm. If make 8mm copper rod, it’s better to cover with charcoal , the thickness around the crystallizer is about 150mm, the thickness around the silicon carbide float is 60~80mm.

3) The holding furnace should clean regularly, and check the situation of graphite flake, should be added in time when the surface layer is red, if there is a block, remove in time. If the charcoal thickness which cover the crystallizer is below 150mm and silicon carbide float thickness is below 60~80mm, charcoal should be added in time (about 6 hours), clean ash every shift: stir every 2~4 hours.

4) The copper liquid surface of the transition chamber (the transition furnace) of the combined furnace should be covered with charcoal, with a thickness of 150mm, and clean ash every shift, stir every 2~4 hours.

5) Stir the charcoal up and down with wooden stick every 2-4 hours of the holding furnace and transition chamber.

3. Check voltage, current and copper temperature regularly. Record every hour and record at any time when changing shift.

4. Check the outlet water temperature of induction coil and water jacket regularly, the highest temperature should not be higher than 60℃, and record every hour.

5. check the temperature of furnace shell regularly.

● Inductor parts ＜220℃

● Furnace chamber parts ＜160℃

6. Not be allowed fan blowing directly into the furnace.

Part III Casting rod

1. Crystallizer preparation

1)  For new crystallizers and ones with lifetime of more than half a month, check whether the inner tube is out of shape, check whether the sealing ring has aged and whether the dirt has been removed, if all is ok, then do water pressure test. The water pressure is 1Mpa and keep water-tight 20 minutes, 1.8~2MPa keep 10 minutes, allow slight water seepage.

2) When preparing to assemble the graphite mold, the thread inside the mold should be turned back to the thread teeth with a standard tap. Remove the rubbish, screw the graphite mold into the crystallizer and the end face is in place.

3) The crystallizer head is wrapped with 8mm thick aluminum silicate board or heat insulation sleeve, and tied tightly with glass fiber belt. The end face is lined with a layer of aluminum silicate board fiber ring, and then fitted with protective sleeve, the gaps between graphite mold and protective sleeve are filled with filler or asbestos wire to prevent the copper liquid from seeping in.

● Filler formula：fire clay 95% + water glass 3%

4) Connect the inlet and outlet pipe of the crystallizer with a small amount of cooling water, then check whether the pipeline system is unblocked, and then preheat for more than 30 minutes on the furnace mouth, after that it can be installed and used.

2. Continuous casting machine preparation

1) Adjust the position of the liquid level tracking system to ensure the depth of the graphite mold insert the liquid level after the crystallizer is installed. When operation, ensure that the distance between the copper liquid level and the upper edge of the protective sleeve is 30~40mm.

2) Before the thermocouple is inserted, put it on the furnace cover to bake for 30 minutes, and then connect the compensating lead wire, install on the fixed frame and adjust the center position ,then put it into the furnace chamber and stay on the overburden, when the degree indicator indicates about 750~800℃, the thermocouple can enter the copper liquid, and the insertion depth is the same level as the graphite mold head ,the thermocouple cladding must be tight.

3.  The operation of casting rod

1) The crystallizer is in place, insert the copper liquid, connect the rear half of the drawing rod, open the pressure switch, press the traction wheel, and start drawing rod.

2) Adjust the cooling water

● Ensure Φ8mm crystallizer inlet and outlet water temperature difference is between 6~8℃.

● Ensure Φ12.5mm crystallizer inlet and outlet water temperature difference is between 8~12℃.

● Ensure Φ17~20mm crystallizer inlet and outlet water temperature difference is between 12~15℃.

● If change copper rod size , adjust the inlet and outlet water temperature accordingly.

3) After the copper rod is drawing out, disassemble the drawing rod into sections and then led to the take-up system through the guide wheel.

4. Daily operation of casting rod

1) The casting speed of copper rod

● Φ8mm copper rod: keep speed at 1600~2800mm/min, if use the copper cathode as raw material, keep speed at 2400~2800mm/min, if use the copper scrap as raw material, keep speed at 1600~2400mm/min.

● Φ12.5mm copper rod: keep speed at 600~1300mm/min, if use the copper cathode as raw material, keep speed at 1000~1300mm/min, if use the copper scrap as raw material, keep speed at 600~1000mm/min.

● Φ17mm copper rod: keep speed at 400~800mm/min, if use the copper cathode as raw material, keep speed at 500~800mm/min, if use the copper scrap as raw material, keep speed at 400~700mm/min.

● Φ20mm copper rod: keep speed at 300~600mm/min, if use the copper cathode as raw material, keep speed at 400~500mm/min, if use the copper scrap as raw material, keep speed at 300~400mm/min.

● If change copper rod size, adjust the casting speed accordingly.

2) Check the quality of the copper rod surface regularly, check the inlet and outlet water temperature of the crystallizer, water jacket and coil, as well as the insertion depth of the crystallizer, and the working status of the liquid level tracking system, if any abnormal, solve it in time.

3) Check the float frequently and adjust accordingly

Part IV Take up copper rod

1. Cut off the head of ingot head when drawing the wire, pass the copper rod through the tension frame (limit device), pass through and clamp the guide wheel for drawing the wire, and introduce it into the take-up plate.

2. After the rod go into in the take-up machine, a wooden plate can be used to flap manually on to rod to assure the orderliness due to temperature difference on the rod. It will bend due to the temperature difference between each copper rod, so in order to keep the row line neat, pat with a wooden board.

3. Check the working condition of tension frame (limit device), frequently, in the case of tension frame (limit device), failure, use the operation button of the take-up machine for manual operation temporary, meanwhile to solve the problem timely.

4. After the take-up plate is filled, lift out the copper rod and hang the product tracking card, report the date, furnace time, production team, weight and other items.

Part V Cooling water system control

1. Water supply of cooling water system: water pressure of Φ8mm crystallizer is 0.25~ 0.35Mpa

2. Water supply of cooling water system: water pressure of Φ12.5~20mm crystallizer is 0.20~ 0.25Mpa, water pressure of water jacket/coil is 0.18~ 0.22Mpa

3. The water temperature of recycled pool adjust by the cooling tower, and the inlet temperature is controlled between at 30~35℃.

4. If electric power shut down or water pump shut down, should open the valve of standby water within one minute to ensure the cooling water of crystallizer, water jacket and coil is uninterrupted.

Part VI Safety production

1. The operator shall wear the labor protection equipment and observe the safety operation process.

2. Do not be too close to the furnace mouth after opening the furnace cover, to avoid carbon monoxide gas be burning to hurt people (start to operate after the carbon monoxide gas be burning up)

3. Every shift should check the operation situation of the machine regularly, check whether is safe and reliable.

4.Do not allow the wet and undried tools into copper liquid to avoid the copper liquid exploding and causing accidents.

5. Please pay attention to prevent the cooling water enter into the furnace when installing and removing crystallizer.

Part VII Performance of copper rod

1. The raw materials accord with standard, copper cathode as raw material

● Consistency：～ 8.9kg/dm3

● Elongation rate：≥35%

● Tensile strength：＞170N/mm²

● Soft-form resistance rate：≤0.01724Ω·mm/m(drawing to Φ3mm or Φ 2.6mm)

● Oxygen capacity：≤10ppm

● The finest wire to be drawn from the copper rod: 0.15mm.

2. Use the bright copper wire scrap, cooper rice as raw material

● The performance of copper rod is depended on the quality of raw material.

● The copper rod can meet the requirement of drawing wire.