EP1581779A1

EP1581779A1 - Cooling element, particularly for furnaces, and method for producing a cooling element

Info

Publication number: EP1581779A1
Application number: EP03782142A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Karlfried Pfeifenbring; Marcus Hering; Peter H. MÜLLER
Original assignee: Hundt and Weber GmbH
Current assignee: Hundt and Weber GmbH
Priority date: 2002-12-20
Filing date: 2003-12-08
Publication date: 2005-10-05
Anticipated expiration: 2023-12-08
Also published as: ES2316841T3; US8080116B2; CA2511141C; AU2003289826A1; EP1581779B9; BR0317488A; CA2511141A1; JP4764008B2; EP1581779B1; DE50310788D1; KR20050084441A; DE10259870A1; KR101051942B1; US20070000579A1; JP2006510866A; ZA200504909B; ATE414250T1; WO2004057256A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a cooling element, particularly for use in walls of furnaces that are subjected to high levels of thermal stress, and to a method for producing a cooling element. The cooling element is comprised of cast copper or of a low-alloyed copper alloy and is provided with coolant channels, which consist of tubes cast inside the copper or the copper alloy and which are placed inside the cooling element. In order to create a cooling element with an improved material bond on the contact surfaces between the cooling tube and the metal cast around it and thus with an increased heat transfer, the invention provides that the tubes of the coolant channels are provided with an electrolytic coating on the exterior thereof. The use of copper tubes has been shown to be particularly advantageous, and the coating of the tube exteriors thereof ensues in an electroplating bath.

Description

Cooling element, in particular for ovens, and method for producing a cooling element

The invention relates to a cooling element, in particular for use in walls of thermally highly stressed furnaces, consisting of cast copper or a low-alloy copper alloy with coolant channels arranged in its interior made of pipes cast into the copper or the copper alloy.

The invention further relates to a method for producing a cooling element provided in its interior with coolant channels formed from tubes, in particular for use in walls of ovens subject to high thermal loads, with the steps

a) production of the pipe including all desired curvatures, branches and similar flow structures, b) casting of the pipes with molten copper or copper alloy within a casting mold with preferably simultaneous cooling of the pipe inner walls, c) cooling of the copper melt.

Such cooling elements are usually arranged between the casing and the lining of a furnace, often also for use behind the refractory lining, for which purpose the cooling elements are connected to the cooling system of the furnace, for example a pyrometallurgical melting furnace. The surfaces of these cooling elements can, as described for example in EP 0 816 515 A1, be provided on the side facing the inside of the furnace with additional webs or grooves or honeycomb-shaped depressions in order to enable a better bond with the refractory lining of the furnace or to ensure good adhesion of the slag or metal which arises in the furnace process and solidifies due to the intensive cooling by the cooling elements, as protection of the cooling element against chemical attack and against erosion. The cooling elements are usually used in the form of cooling plates in the region of the furnace walls or the ceiling or the range of the hearth of cylindrical or oval shaft furnaces. Such are also used Cooling elements also for pig iron blast furnaces, in arc furnaces, direct reduction reactors and melter gasifiers. Further areas of application for the cooling elements are burner blocks, nozzles, casting troughs, electrode clips, tap hole blocks, stove anodes or molds for anode shapes.

In principle, the cooling elements are aimed at a high degree of heat dissipation, which can both improve the service life of the cooling elements and prevent thermal peaks in the furnace process, particularly during dynamic operation, from destroying the cooling element.

In the case of cooling elements with cast pipes as coolant channels, good heat transfer from the cast metal of the cooling element to the coolant flowing in the pipes is sought in addition to good flow management, which is as loss-free as possible. For this purpose, EP 0 816 515 A1, already mentioned above, proposes an improved bond between the pipe and casting compound in such a way that part of the thick-walled copper pipes is melted when the liquid copper is cast around them, but this is because of the pipe and the melt have essentially the same melting point due to their material identity, which is associated with considerable process engineering difficulties. With a relatively cold casting, there is a risk that the pipe will not be adequately welded to the cast metal. The consequence of this is a very high heat transfer resistance between the pipe and the cast metal. Conversely, if the casting temperature is increased, even when using thick-walled pipes, a partial dissolving and melting of the pipes, or at least indenting the cross-section of the pipes, can hardly be avoided. A composite cast body produced in this way is unusable for use in an oven.

When using copper smelting, metallurgical dependencies also play a major role. Copper melts tend to absorb gases. Hydrogen and oxygen in particular have a disruptive effect during the casting process. The duration of the melting time and possibly the overheating temperature also play a role and can vary from melting process to melting process. Hydrogen and oxygen are in equilibrium with one another, which is why low hydrogen contents are set at high oxygen contents and vice versa. Because the solubility of hydrogen in solid copper is significantly lower than in liquid copper, it can be deduced from this that the solubility for hydrogen decreases significantly with falling temperature. The transition from the liquid to the solid phase of the copper melt has an extremely strong reduction in solubility for hydrogen, one speaks generally of a jump in solubility when the liquidus temperature falls below, this is about 3.5 ml of hydrogen per 100 g of copper melt.

Temperature and pressure also play an important role in absorbing a melt for gases. The pouring of a hydrogen-containing copper melt in the presence of oxygen in the form of copper oxide on the pipe surface is problematic, since it is formed by the atmospheric oxygen due to the extremely rapid heating of the pipe by the melt. Due to the jump in solubility during the transition of the melt from its liquid to the solid state, the released hydrogen reacts with the copper oxide by reducing it and the resulting water vapor causing a gas porosity of the casting. In terms of process engineering, a vacuum degassing can be used to counter this, but this is an additional effort. Alternatively, a targeted oxygen charge can be used to shift the water-oxygen equilibrium towards oxygen, and thus remove the hydrogen. Following the oxidizing melt treatment, the oxygen content has to be reduced in a targeted manner by deoxidizing the melt in the pan. Due to this complex two-stage metallurgical treatment of the copper melt, however, a reaction with the oxygen of the copper oxide of the cast copper pipes can no longer lead to an undesired formation of water vapor and thus to gas bubbles within the melt.

As already described, the contact of a highly heated copper melt with a copper tube arranged in the casting mold leads to a mechanical weakening of the copper tube. The pipe tends to be pushed in at the points where a higher metal column is loaded. To overcome this difficulty, DE-PS 726 599 discloses to pass gases or liquids through the tubes under an increased back pressure during the casting, this back pressure corresponding approximately to the deformation resistance of the tube at the softening temperature. However, even when using this method, oxidation of the tube on its outer surfaces cannot be avoided during the casting process.

Various alternatives in the choice of material for the cast pipes are described in US Pat. No. 6,280,681. In addition to the possibilities, but also the limits of the use of pipes made of steel, stainless steel and copper, a type of cooling element is also described in which tubes made of a material commercially known as "Monel" are used. This material has a copper content of 31% and a nickel content of 63%. It is also described in this publication that not only copper pipes can be used to achieve a good bond, but also pipes made of Cu-Ni alloys such as UNS C 71500 with a copper content of 70% and a nickel content of 30%. , Due to their higher melting point, these pipes have the advantage of a higher thermal load capacity during casting and can often be produced without simultaneous passage of cooling water through the pipes during and after casting. With such tubes, the risk of breakthroughs of the copper melt into the interior of the tube can be significantly reduced. In order to maintain a free pipe diameter, they are filled with sand before casting in order to maintain the pipe cross-section and to prevent the pipe from collapsing. Unfortunately, the pipes made of Cu-Ni and Ni-Cu alloys have a much poorer thermal conductivity than copper pipes, which means that much less heat can be dissipated in later operation as a cooling element, and in particular thermal overloading of areas of the furnace wall can occur. In addition, alloys made of nickel and copper are much stronger, which is why they are difficult to form and bend. In critical areas such as narrow 180 ° bends, considerably more weld seams have to be drawn due to the use of preformed bends, which, apart from the higher manufacturing costs, increases the risk of later leaks.

Furthermore, there is the already described risk of increased gas porosity due to the formation of water vapor, which also worsens the casting quality, limits heat dissipation and thus reduces heat conduction, since the gas bubbles in the casting act like insulators. Another disadvantage is the different coefficient of thermal expansion of the metals involved. There is compressive and tensile stress on the pipe embedded in the casting mold, which, depending on the shape of the pipe, can lead to a poorer local bond between the pipe and the cast copper and thus in turn to a deterioration in the heat conduction.

The prior art also includes a cooling element as described in DE-PS 1 386 645. With this cooling element, the pipe to be cast is not in the mold right from the start; rather, the copper melt for the production of the copper block is first placed in the mold, and then the prefabricated pipe is immersed in this melt, the inner walls of the pipe being cooled at the same time. In the event that the pipe and the melt consist of different metals, the attachment proposed an additional layer on the outside of the tube, this additional layer consisting of a further, third metal, which can be applied, for example, galvanically to the tube. Which metals can be suitable for such purposes remains open.

The invention is based on the object of creating a cooling element, in particular for use in walls of thermally highly stressed furnaces, which is characterized at the interfaces between the cooling tube and the casting metal by an improved material composite and thus an increased heat transfer. Furthermore, a method is to be proposed with which such a cooling element can be produced.

As a solution, it is proposed in a cooling element with the features mentioned at the outset that the tubes of the coolant channels are provided on their outside with an electrolytic coating.

In order to solve the partial task of providing a method suitable for the production of such cooling elements, it is proposed in a method with the generic features mentioned at the outset that in the manufacture of the tubes at least those areas of the tube outer sides which are later cast around with the copper or copper alloy , be electrolytically coated.

According to the invention, therefore, the pipes to be cast around during the production of the cooling element are previously galvanically coated with a suitable metal layer, this metal layer on the one hand not leading to a deterioration but rather to an improvement in the heat transfer, that is to say having very good specific heat conduction. On the other hand, the galvanically applied metal layer leads to advantages in passivating the outside of the tube against the effects of oxidation during casting, and the adhesion between the tube and the encapsulated metal is also improved as a result of diffusion processes occurring in the border area. A direct connection between the cast metal and the cast pipe is thus made possible, the heat transfer is greatly improved and the pipe body thus cast in promotes a good cooling effect when the cooling element is used later, for example in an industrial furnace.

The diffusion processes which occur in the outermost layer of the electrolytic coating after it comes into contact with the cast-in copper melt are particularly advantageous. These diffusion processes lead to a significantly improved adhesion of the cast metal to the pipe, combined with an almost lossless heat transfer. Since a thin alloy layer is formed at the interface between the electrolytic coating of the tube and the cast copper, the connection surface in this area is almost corrosion-resistant.

In a preferred embodiment of the cooling element according to the invention it is proposed that the tubes are copper tubes and the coating is a galvanic nickel coating. According to the method, this is achieved by coating the outside of the tube in a galvanic nickel bath, the thickness of the layer formed in this way being between 3 and 12 μm, preferably between 6 and 10 μm.

Nickel is characterized by a relatively good thermal conductivity, in addition, nickel has a density comparable to that of copper and a very similar atomic diameter. The melting point of nickel at 1453 ° C is significantly higher than the melting point of copper at 1083 ° C, which prevents or delays melting of the electrolytic nickel layer when the liquid copper is filled. Experiments have shown that the high melting point of the nickel protects the galvanic nickel layer of the pipe from attack by the melt, like an additional pipe. At the same time, the high thermal energy leads to diffusion processes taking place between the galvanic nickel layer and the casting made of copper, which lead to a significantly better adhesion of the casting to the copper pipe. As a result of the formation of a thin alloy layer at the interface between the tube and the casting compound, the connection surface becomes corrosion-resistant, here the complete solubility of the copper for nickel and the approximately the same atomic diameter have a positive effect. After the casting has been completed and the copper has solidified, the nickel of the galvanic nickel layer is hardly detectable in this region. The long cooling time after solidification of the copper until the end of the diffusion processes at about 400 ° C. also has an effect here, which, depending on the size of the cast cooling element, amounts to 4 to 8 hours.

With regard to the thickness of the nickel layer electroplated on the outside of the tube, the optimum seems to be between 6 and 10 μm.

In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, it is proposed that the tubes are coated only after the desired tube shape has been produced. The pipe is then first produced, including all the desired bends, branches and the like flow structures. Only then will they Tubes on the outside of their tubes are electrolytically nickel-plated in a galvanic bath. If, on the other hand, the copper pipe is nickel-plated before the various shaping processes are carried out, it turns out that the nickel layers change significantly due to the heating in the area, for example, of the bends and radii of the pipe, and consequently no uniform bond with the metal casting occurs later.

In a further embodiment of the method according to the invention, it is proposed that the outside of the tube be blasted mechanically before coating, preferably by blasting with coarse glass grain. Before electroplating, there is a strong picking, i.e. H. Pickling required. Furthermore, it is advantageous if the coated pipe outer sides are degreased before the pipes are poured around them, preferably by cleaning with acetone.

The pipes, which are finished in their geometry, are first blasted with coarse glass grain in order to achieve a surface that is as rough and therefore as large as possible, with the result that the pipes are properly cleaned and activated. The electrolytic coating of the outside of the tube is then carried out in the galvanic nickel bath. Due to the surface that was previously activated by pickling, good adhesion of the nickel layer is achieved. When subsequently installing the pipes in the mold box of the casting mold, care should be taken to ensure that the surface remains free of grease, whereby cleaning the pipes with acetone is recommended. The liquid copper is then poured into the mold. Based on the previously cleaned surface, any oxidation of the pipe surface could be avoided during the pouring. This prevents the network from deteriorating. Even a slight oxidation of the nickel surface does not appear to be disadvantageously noticeable with the fusion occurring and with the diffusion processes taking place.

The results of tests carried out show that rapid cooling from the liquid state is also possible as a result of very intensive cooling of the pipes fed with cooling water during and after the casting process. Such intensive cooling normally has an adverse effect on the quality of the composite. In contrast, when using galvanized pipes, good castings could be achieved in tests, even with strong cooling capacity of the water passed through the pipes. One can therefore speak of a robust casting process which is relatively insensitive to variations in the process parameters. Another embodiment of the cooling element according to the invention proposes that the tubes are not copper tubes, but rather copper-nickel tubes with a copper content of 30 to 70% and a nickel content of 20 to 65%, the electrolytic coating being a copper coating is.

Accordingly, a method suitable for producing such a cooling element is characterized in that the tubes used are copper-nickel tubes with a copper content of 30 to 70% and a nickel content of 20 to 65%, and that the coating of the tube outer sides in a galvanic copper bath.

Such a typical nickel-copper tube is known commercially under the name "Monel 400". Its nickel content is 63% and its copper content 31%. This tube is characterized by a high melting point, which is why the use of cooling water during the casting process may even be dispensed with. The heat conduction of such a tube made of Monel 400 is, however, significantly worse than that of a copper tube and is in particular only about 5% of the heat conduction of the copper tube. In addition, the relatively high strength of the Monel tubes leads to additional expenses and thus additional costs in the manufacture and in particular the shaping of the tubes. Their poorer flexibility compared to copper pipes often leads to the need to use prefabricated pipe bends.

Other principally suitable copper-nickel pipes are the so-called "Monel 450" with a copper content of 66% and a nickel content of 32% and the material UNS C 71500 with a copper content of 70% and a nickel content of 30%. But even with these pipe materials, the thermal conductivities are significantly worse than with copper. Pipes made of these materials are therefore preferably used in less stressed areas of furnace cooling.

Even with such alloy pipes made of copper and nickel, the advantage of the galvanic coating of the outside of the pipe is evident, and also in relation to the thermal conductivity.

The following table 1 summarizes the results based on a total of eleven samples carried out, comparative samples without electrolytic refinement also being tested. The test was carried out using infrared heat measurements (thermographic analysis) and subsequent shear tests:

Table 1

The best results therefore showed samples No. 4 and No. 5, in each of which a copper tube with galvanic nickel plating was used, the layer thickness being 6 μm for sample No. 4 and 9 μm for sample No. 5. Sample No. 3 also shows a good bond with a reduced nickel layer of 3 μm. However, the tests carried out according to the parallel method using a "Monel 400" pipe still show a good bond between the pipe and the casting compound, only in the area of the pipe bend did the shear tests show poorer results.

Table 2 below shows the test results of the thermographic examination by thermal image analysis:

Table 2

Finally, Table 3 below shows the results of the shear tests carried out, stating the shear strength τ in N / mm ² for the four material pairs, copper without nickel plating, copper with nickel plating, Monel 400 without a copper layer and Monel 400 with an electrolytic copper layer. The particularly good results when using a nickel-plated copper tube and a copper-plated tube made of Monel 400 are striking:

Table 3

The sample and shear results summarized in Tables 1, 2 and 3 are based on the sample body shown in FIG. 1. The tube takes a U-shaped course through the cast body, with an inlet and an outlet protruding from the cast body. Pipes with an outer diameter were used in the tests of 33 mm, and an inner diameter of 21 mm, the dimensions of the cast block were 360 mm / 200 mm / 80 mm. The pipe dimensions show that the wall thickness of the pipes used in the casting tests was 6 mm in each case.

The test specimens produced in this way were heated in an annealing furnace, while the subsequent cooling with a defined amount of water and a defined pressure took thermographic recordings with the aid of an infrared camera.

Claims

claims:

1. Cooling element, in particular for use in walls of thermally highly stressed furnaces, consisting of cast copper or a low-alloy copper alloy with coolant channels arranged in its interior from tubes cast into the copper or copper alloy, characterized in that the tubes of the coolant channels on their Outside with an electrolytic

Coating are provided.

2. Cooling element according to claim 1, characterized in that the tubes are copper tubes and that the coating is a galvanic nickel coating.

3. Cooling element according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the thickness of the coating is between 3 and 12 microns, preferably between 6 and 10 microns.

4. Cooling element according to claim 1, characterized in that the tubes are copper-nickel tubes with a copper content of 30 to 70% and a nickel content of 20 to 65%, and that the coating is a copper coating.

5. A method for producing a cooling element provided in its interior with coolant channels formed from tubes, in particular for use in walls of thermally highly stressed furnaces, with the steps a) manufacturing the tube including all desired curvatures, branches and the like flow structures, b) within one Casting Pouring the pipes with molten copper or copper alloy, preferably cooling the inner walls of the pipe at the same time, c) cooling the copper melt, characterized in that that at least those areas of the tube outer sides which are later cast around with the copper or the copper alloy are electrolytically coated during the manufacture of the tubes.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the tubes are coated only after the production of the desired tube shape.

7. The method according to claim 5 or claim 6, characterized in that the tube outer sides are mechanically blasted before coating, preferably by blasting with coarse glass grain.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the coated tube outer sides are degreased before the tubes are cast around them, preferably by cleaning with acetone.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the tubes used are copper tubes, and that the coating of the tube outer sides is carried out in a galvanic nickel bath.

10. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 9, characterized in that the thickness of the galvanic layer is between 3 and 12 microns, preferably between 6 and 10 microns.

11. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that the tubes used are copper-nickel tubes with a copper content of 30 to 70% and a nickel content of 20 to 65%, and that the coating of the The outside of the pipe is done in a galvanic copper bath.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the copper-nickel pipes used have a copper content of 31% and a

63% nickel content (Monel tubes).