Abstract
The lead has to be removed for the recycling of copper alloy. The lead cannot be removed from the copper alloy by oxidation. It can be removed by the evaporation because of its high vapor pressure. However, rare information is found on removal of lead from copper alloy. The purpose of present work is to provide a fundamental knowledges on the removal of lead from the copper alloy by evaporation. Gas injection was made in molten copper alloy, and the evaporation rate of lead was measured. The influence of Ar gas flow rata(2~4 L/min), initial contents of lead(2~4wt%Pb), temperature(1200~140$0^{\circ}C$) was investigated based on the thermodynamic and the kinetics. The rate constant is increased with increasing flow rate of Ar and temperature. Though amount of lead removed is increased with higher initial lead concentration, the rate constant is not changed significantly. The activation energy is estimated from the temperature dependence of the rate constant. Also removal of lead from the copper by adding chloride was made for the comparison.
