Institute of Metallurgy of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia:

L. Yu. Udoeva, Senior Researcher
E. N. Selivanov, Director, e-mail: pcmlab@mail.ru
N. I. Selmenskikh, Researcher

Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, Ekaterinburg, Russia:

S. E. Klyayn, Assistant Professor

According to the flowsheet of autoclave processing of highcopper converter matte, designers of this technology offer the preliminary granulation of this intermediate product. The purpose of this work was to study the influence of method and mode of granulation on granulometric characteristics, phase composition and microstructure of particles. The test samples were manufactured from the converter matte melt, using the following methods:
— spraying of melt by water jet under the pressure;
— quenching of melt by discharge into a water pool.
The melt temperature, used as indirect indicator of cooling rate, was varied in the range of 1150–1300 ^oC. Screen fractionation and optical microscopy show that sprayed samples are sufficiently homogeneous in chemical composition and particle size, while quenched samples have a wide particle-size distribution and high porosity. Phase composition and microstructure of samples were investigated by methods of metallography and X-ray structure microanalysis on the granules of fraction of –2.5+1.25 mm. Two phases, which composition is closed to Ni₃S₂ and Cu_1.96S, were defined in sprayed samples. These phases form a fine dendrite structure. The samples of converter matte, obtained by discharge of melt into water, had ternary structure due to release of metallic phase — Cu – Ni solid solution, allocated inside pores and along the boundaries of sulfide phases. Influence of cooling rate on the reactive capacity of granular converter matte was estimated by the behavior of the test samples in the whole cycle of autoclave leaching. This cycle includes three stages: atmospheric copper purification, autoclave oxidative leaching and refining of nickelcobalt solution. In the event, extraction of both Ni and Cu is increased with a rise of temperature of melt, what makes it possible to carry out more efficient separation of metals during autoclave refining process. Results of the carried out investigations can be used for development of new technologies of hydrometallurgical processing of Cu – Ni sulfide alloys.

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