Abstract
In order to obtain the fundamental information regarding a new zinc smelting process where zinc is extracted using molten copper as a solvent, the activity of zinc and two-phase region in the Cu-Zn-Fe ternary system were investigated by using the transportation method and the quenching technique respectively.The two-phase of molten Cu-Zn alloy and solid iron determined in this study extends widely in the composition region below 70 at% Zn at 1, 473 K in the Cu-Zn-Fe ternary system. The iron solubility in the Cu-Zn alloy exhibits constancy and is nearly 5.5 at% below 40 at % Zn in the molten alloy phase.The relation between the excess partial molar free energy of zinc, ΔGZnXS and (1-NZn) 2 on the constant composition ratio of NFe/(NFe+NFe) in the homogeneous melt may be expressed by a line, even if the free energies were calculated from the activity measurements at various temperatures between 1, 123 and 1, 373 K. The activity coefficients of zinc, extrapolated by using the relationship between ΔGZnXS and (1-NZn) 2, decrease with increasing iron content in the composition region below 60 at%Zn at 1, 473 K. Above this composition range, the activity coefficient increases.The large solubility of zinc in a molten copper phase is not expected for the new zinc smelting process, because the vapour pressure of zinc is very high even in the composition region of low zinc content in the Cu-Zn-Fe ternary system. Then, the extraction process would require large amount of molten copper to extract zinc from its sinter.
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