Abstract
The system Cu2S-Fe S-FeO-SiO2 regarded as one of the most basic ones for copper matte and slag was investigated of its miscibility by means of chemical analysis and microscopic examination. Because the only usuable crucible was the one made of iron, the composition region to be examined was limited to the range rather small in Cu2S content and large in FeO. In general, the mattes and the slags produced in this system show appreciable mutualsolubilities in each other. These mutual solubilities increase with the decreasein SiO2 and Cu2S content, and with the increase in FeO content. In the region where both SiO2 and Cu2S are small in content, the phases of matte and slag disappear, yielding a single liquid phase; for example, the melt composed of 5% Cu2S, 30% FeS, 61% FeO and4% SiO2 is a homogeneous liquid phase. When the melts are saturated with SiO2, the mutual solubillity between the matte and slag becomesminimum. An isothermal regular tetrahedron model was constructed based upon the experimental results obtained for the convenience of explanation, although, in astrict sense, the system Cu2S-FeS-FeO-SiO2 can not be expressed as quarternary equilibrium diagram.
