27-07-2020

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The information contained in the multimedia

content “CUPOLA & CHARGE ESTIMATION FOR
CUPOLA” posted by Thapar Institute of Engineering
& Technology is purely for education (class teaching)
and informational purpose only and not for any
commercial use.

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

CUPOLA &
CHARGE ESTIMATION FOR
CUPOLA

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Cupola - Construction
• A cupola is a vertical cylindrical furnace
equipped with a tapping spout near its
base.
• Cupolas are used only for melting cast
irons, and the largest tonnage of cast iron
is melted in cupolas.
• It consists of a large shell of steel plate
lined with refractory.
• The “charge,” consisting of iron, coke, flux,
and possible alloying elements, is loaded
through a charging door located less than
halfway up the height of the cupola.
• The iron is usually a mixture of pig iron
and scrap (including risers, runners, and
sprues left over from previous castings).
UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

• Coke is the fuel used to heat the furnace.

• Forced air is introduced through openings near the bottom of the
shell for combustion of the coke.
• The flux is a basic compound such as limestone that reacts with coke
ash and other impurities to form slag.
• The slag serves to cover the melt, protecting it from reaction with the
environment inside the cupola and reducing heat loss.
• As the mixture is heated and melting of the iron occurs, the furnace is
periodically tapped to provide liquid metal for the pour.

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Cupola - Operation
• The drop doors at the bottom are closed and a sand bed with a gentle
slope towards the tap hole is rammed.
• Then a coke bed of suitable height is prepared above the sand bottom
and ignited through the tap hole or any other hole.
• When the coke bed is properly ignited, alternate layers of charge, flux
and coke are alternately fed into the cupola through the charge door
maintaining the necessary proportions and rate of charging.
• The charge is then allowed to soak in the heat for a while, and then the
air blast is turned on. Within about 5 to 10 minutes, the molten metal is
collected near the tap hole.
• When enough molten metal is collected in the well of the cupola, the
slag is drained off through the slag hole before opening the tap hole.
• The molten metal is collected in the ladles and then transported to the
moulds into which it is poured with a minimum time loss.

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

• The charge needed to produce cast iron, essentially consists of pig iron,
cast iron scrap and steel scrap when alloy cast iron is needed.
• The proportions of these depend on their chemical compositions and
on the final chemical composition of cast iron desired.
• The fluxes are added in the charge to remove the oxides and other
impurities present in the metal. The flux most commonly used is lime
stone (CaCO3) in a proportion of about 2 to 4% of the metal charge.
• Some of the other fluxes that may also be used are dolomite, sodium
carbonate and calcium carbide.
• The flux is expected to react with the oxides and form compounds
which have low melting point and also are lighter. As a result, the
molten slag tends to float on the metal pool and thus, can very easily be
separated.

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Charge Calculations
• The elements in the final analysis are essentially the sum total of
what is contained in each of the charge ingredients, with some losses
or pick up in the cupola.
• Out of the various elements, the ones that are relevant are carbon,
silicon, manganese and sulphur.
• As the charge comes through the coke bed, some amount of carbon is
picked up by the metal depending on the temperature and the time
when the metal is in contact with the coke.
• However, it may be reason able to assume a pickup of the order of
0.15% carbon.
• Silicon is likely to get oxidized in the cupola and therefore, a loss of
10% of total silicon contained in the charge is normal.
• If the silicon content in the charge is not high, extra silicon can be
added by inoculating the metal in the ladle with ferro-silicon.

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

• Manganese is also likely to be lost in the melting process. The loss

could be of the order of 15 to 20% of total manganese contained in
the charge.
• Loss of manganese in the final analysis can be made up by the
addition of ferro-manganese.
• Similar to carbon, sulphur is also likely to be picked up from coke
during melting.
• The pickup depends on the sulphur content of the coke but a
reasonable estimate could be 0.03 to 0.05%.

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Example 1
Estimate the final composition of the cast iron produced with the
following charge compositions and proportions.

Solution
• Let’s assume the total amount of elements present in 1000 kg of
charge.
• Assuming

Carbon pick up as 0.15%.

Sulphur pick up as 0.05%.

Silicon loss as 10%.

Manganese loss as 20%.

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Example 2
In a foundry, it was required to obtain a cast metal with the following
composition: carbon 3.20 to 3.60%, silicon 2.30 to 2.60%, manganese
0.60 to 0.80%, sulphur 0.08% maximum, and phosphorous 0.40 to
0.60%. If the following raw materials are available, estimate the best
charge proportions.

Solution
Among raw materials, pig iron 2 has got very low silicon content.
Similarly scrap 2 has low silicon and high sulphur, can be eliminated.
The final choices are the pig iron 1 and 3 and scrap 1. Let the charge be
40% of scrap and pig irons in equal proportions of 30% each.
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The analysis is done for 1000 kg with the carbon pick up

assumed as 0.15%, sulphur as 0.05%, the oxidation losses of
silicon as 10% and that of manganese as 20%.

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• With the chosen charge composition, the final analysis differs from
the required one with carbon, silicon and sulphur percentages.
• To reduce the carbon and sulphur percentages, we may have to use pig iron 2
which may reduce the silicon percentage but that can be made up by adding
suitable amount of ferro-silicon.

The reduction in sulphur achieved by
The reduction in carbon achieved by
the addition of 1 kg of pig iron 2 for the addition of 1 kg of pig iron 2 for
scrap 1 is scrap 1 is

The excess sulphur present in 1000 kg
The excess carbon present in 1000 kg
is is

The amount of pig iron 2 to be
the amount of pig iron 2 to be

substituted is substituted is

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

• Substitution of 200 kg of pig iron would be sufficient to give the

desired analysis.

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• It is not possible to increase silicon any further, and therefore, the only
way out is to add ferro silicon of requisite amount to make up the short
fall.

• Amount of silicon to be added for 1000 kg is

• This can be made up by adding 5 kg of ferro silicon in place of scrap 1.

So, the final mix of the charge is

Pig iron 1 = 300 kg = 30 %
Pig iron 2 = 200 kg = 20 %
Pig iron 3 = 300 kg = 30 %
Scrap 1 = 195 kg = 19.5 %
Ferro silicon = 5 kg = 0.5 %

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY

• Rao, P.N., Manufacturing Technology Volume 1, McGraw Hill

Education (India) Private Ltd.
• Groover, M.P., Principles of Modern Manufacturing, John Wiley
and Sons (2011).

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THANK YOU

UME 505: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY