Oxy-Acet adds carbon?

[Psyk0siss]

Today I was forge refining some scrap copper using my oxy-acetylene torch. I'm not a pro, but I noticed with one of my ingots that had little impurities, when I reheated to molten and cooled had a giant carbon shell on top and the copper sample remaining was smaller than I started.

My question is, if I had my acetylene up too high, could I hand infused the carbon into the liquid sample and dirtied it up more?

 

[Geo]

Today I was forge refining some scrap copper using my oxy-acetylene torch. I'm not a pro, but I noticed with one of my ingots that had little impurities, when I reheated to molten and cooled had a giant carbon shell on top and the copper sample remaining was smaller than I started.

My question is, if I had my acetylene up too high, could I hand infused the carbon into the liquid sample and dirtied it up more?

All carbon fuels will add carbon to the melt. Molten metal is a liquid. Like all liquids, it absorbs gasses from the atmosphere. Besides carbon, it also absorbs oxygen. If the temperature is too high (white hot), the metal will absorb the gasses primarily during the pour. When the metal cools rapidly, the absorbed gasses escape before the metal fully hardens and can make the pour look like Swiss cheese on the inside if you cut it into two pieces. There is an oxidizing flame and a reducing flame. You should study and learn about the subject. A reducing flame adds carbon dioxide to the melt which reduces copper oxides back to metallic copper. Oxidizing flame does just that. It oxidizes some metals that may be in the melt and it will report in the slag. The flux is just the liquid medium we use in pyrometallurgy. Where your solution holds the metal that has been dissolved in wet processing, so too is the flux when melting the metal. You can't get away from the carbon in the melt. The only way to to totally eliminate the carbon is use an electric furnace.

 

[Ultrax]

The only way to to totally eliminate the carbon is use an electric furnace.

Or carefully heat covered magnesium or SiC crucible with metal with oxy-acetylene torch (or better with oxy-propane to avoid melting of the crucible).

 

[Lino1406]

Be careful from copper acetylide