1996 Volume 112 Issue 1 Pages 56-60
As a fundamental study of the Warner process, phase relations in the Cu2S-ZnS-FeS and Cu2S-ZnSPbS pseudo ternary systems and the Cu-Zn-S and Cu-Zn-X-S (X: Fe, Pb) systems were determined at 1, 473 K. In the Cu2S-ZnS-FeS system, the solubility of ZnS in the liquid phase is considerably small at less than Nzns=0.1 in the high Cu2S and FeS composition ranges. The solubility of Cu2S in the solid solution of sphalerite (Zn; Fe, Cu) S is also considerably small when conjugated with the high Cu2S melt. In the Cu2S-ZnS-PbS system, the solubility of ZnS in the liquid phase is around Nzns=0.1 in the low composition range of PbS. The Raoultian activity coefficients of ZnS in these pseudo ternary systems at 1, 473 K, which were determined from the obtained phase relation data, are very large at about 10.
In the Cu-Zn-S ternary system, a two-phase region consisting of the L1 alloy phase rich in copper and the L2 matte phase exists in a considerably wide composition range from Nzn =0 to about 0.2. When 3.4, 4.3 or 5.5 mole % Fe is added to the Cu-Zn-S ternary system, the range of the two-phase region of (L1 + L2) in the quaternary system is wider than that in the Cu-Zn-S ternary system. While, when 0.8, 1.5 or 2.4 mole % Pb is added to the Cu-Zn-S ternary system, the range of the two-liquid region does not change with the lead content.
The distribution ratios of iron, lead, arsenic, antimony and silver in the matte (L2) against the alloy (L1) in the Cu-Zn-S, Cu-Zn-Fe-S and Cu-Zn-Pb-S systems are approximately 6, 0.4, 0.1, 0.05 and 0.4, respectively.
