Thermit Compositions

This invention relates to thermit compositions and to their use in the repair of ingot mould bottom plates.

Thermit compositions consist of a mixture of finely divided oxidisable metal together with an oxidising agent therefor, usually consisting substantially or wholly of iron oxide. When such a composition is ignited, a highly exothermic reaction takes place with oxidation of the oxidisable metal and reduction of the iron oxide to molten iron. The oxidisable metal of choice is aluminium and a wide variety of thermit compositions is known which in addition to aluminium and iron oxides contains other modifying agents such as refractory fillers which slow down the speed of the reaction, and initiators such as fluorides which assist positive ignition of the whole of the mass of composition used.

In the casting of molten metals to form ingots, it is customary to pour molten metal into an ingot mould from a substantial height. The molten metal falling on the base of the mould, or on a separable bottom plate constituting the base of the mould, is very hot and the base or bottom plate is accordingly subjected to substantial erosive forces which wear a depression in the mould or bottom plate. Because the base of the mould wears much faster than the remainder, it is common practice to form the mould from a mould body superimposed on a substantially flat base plate which can then be scrapped when too eroded for further satisfactory use. Although separating mould body and base plate in this way leads to economies, even base plates themselves are expensive and accordingly it is desirable to prolong their life e.g. by repairing eroded areas. Mechanical methods such as welding steel plates and the like over eroded areas have been tried but these are difficult and time consuming to apply. Thermit compositions have also been proposed which may be applied to the eroded area and ignited there. They heat up and then cool to leave a solidified mass in the eroded area. Such known compositions have not proved very satisfactory in use. Many are difficult to apply, give off much fume when ignited, which is not only inconvenient but may constitute a health hazard and additionally do not lead to satisfactory repairs.

It is an object of the invention to provide thermit compositions of particular value in repairing eroded ingot mould base plates which minimise or avoid the disadvantages just noted.

According to a first feature of the present invention there is provided a thermit composition comprising a particulate oxidisable metal, particulate iron oxide and a particulate refractory filler consisting wholly or partly or zircon, the particulate refractory filler being present in an amount of 15 to 35 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the oxidisable metal and iron oxide.

The thermit compositions of the present invention may contain additional ingredients such as other oxidising agents and ignition aids, for example fluorides, if desired.

Preferably, the thermit compositions of the invention also contain, per 100 parts by weight of iron oxide and oxidisable metal, 0.1 to 5 parts by weight of a strong oxidising agent such as an alkali metal or ammonium nitrate and 1 to 8 parts by weight of a promoter, preferably a fluoride such as a cryolite, fluorspar or aluminium fluoride.

Preferably all of the refractory filler is zircon though if desired up to 50% by weight of the refractory filler may consist of other refractory filler. Other refractory fillers which may be admixed with the zircon filler include silica sand, silica flour, olivine, quartz, chamotte, mullite, crushed refractory fire brick, sillimanite, fire clay, slicon carbide, magnesite, aluminium silicate, dead burnt dolomite, alumina, magnesia, fused silica and vitreous silica.

The particle size of the refractory filler is of importance. Preferably all of the particles of the refractory filler are less than 2.0 mm and preferred materials are of sieve grading less than 0.5 mm to dust. Preferably the particle size distribution of the refractory filler material is one containing not too much dust since an excess of dust tends to stifle the exothermic reaction. Dusty refractory fillers may however be compensated for by formulating the thermit composition according to the present invention with a relatively increased proportion of easily oxidisable metal, usually aluminium, to iron oxide, and also by increasing the quantity of any strong oxidising agent preferably present. However, increasing both oxidisable metal content and strong oxidising agent content tends also to increase the tendency of the composition to generate fume when ignited and this is naturally undesirable in practice.

According to a further feature of the present invention there is provided a method of repairing an ingot mould base plate which comprises locating in an eroded cavity thereon a thermit composition according to the invention, igniting the composition and allowing it to melt and then to solidify in the cavity.

It is found that compositions according to the present invention give repairs to eroded ingot mould base plates of substantially greater durability than those achieved by prior art methods and using prior art compositions. In particular, the homogeneity of the material constituting the repair is substantially improved and the material left after the thermit composition has been fired is strongly bonded to the material of the ingot mould base plate.

The improved nature of the thermit compositions according to the invention can be seen from the accompanying drawings in which

FIG. 1 is a photograph of half a test patch formed using a thermit composition according to the present invention while

FIG. 2 is a photograph of half a patch formed in the same way as that shown in FIG. 1, but not using a thermit composition according to the present invention. The data on the compositions used are given below.

Each patch was made by igniting a quantity of the composition in a refractory box and letting it cool. The patch was then removed and broken in half. It is clearly evident that the patch shown in FIG. 1 is substantially more homogeneous than that shown in FIG. 2 which has a number of internal voids and substantial inhomogeneities in its structure. The presence of internal voids can lead to an interlocking during casting between the patch and the solidfying ingot, to such an extent that when an attempt is made to strip the ingot from the mould, the patch is pulled away from the base plate or at least substantially damaged during that process. In either case, the whole or part of the patch tends to adhere to the ingot and must be removed, e.g. by lancing, before the ingot can be rolled. Additionally, the base plate must then be repaired again if it is to be put back into service.

The following Examples will serve to illustrate the invention:

In order to evaluate the various examples of thermit compositions according to the invention set out below, a standardised test method was operated as follows:

Each of the compositions was made up simply by mixing the ingredients given in the proportions by weight given and a quantity of each composition was then placed in an eroded cone shaped cavity 40 to 50 cm in diameter 20 to 25 cm deep in a damaged base plate for a 20 ton ingot mould. The cavity was filled in each case to level with the upper surface of the base plate and after filling the thermit composition was ignited by applying to the surface a flame from an acetylene burner. After the composition had ignited it was simply allowed to burn and thereafter to cool and solidify. The amount of fume arising during burning was evaluated visually.

The base plates were then returned to service and the number of casts found before the plate had to be repaired again. The test was carried out on a plurality of base plates for each composition and the average number of casts determined.

The compositions tested and the results obtained are set out in tabular form in Table 1. Parts are by weight throughout. Details of the ingredients used are as follows:

Aluminium powder -- particle size less than 0.15 mm

Zircon sand -- particle size grading 2.0 mm to 0.1 mm

Zircon flour -- particle size grading 1.0 mm to dust

Mullite -- particle size 2.0 mm to dust

The fluoride used was fluorspar and sodium nitrate was added in some cases as a strong oxidising agent.

The following specific formulations in which all parts are given by weight are particularly useful and are preferred thermit compositions according to the present invention:

All these four compositions burnt out when used to repair ingot mould base plates with little or substantially no fume in 2 to 5 minutes. The sample shown in FIG. 1 was produced using Example 5; that shown in FIG. 2 was produced using Example 5, but modified by the replacement of the 28 parts of zircon by 28 parts of crushed fire brick.