ABSTRACT

A tilting aluminium melting furnace lined with fireclay bricks produced with clay sort from clay deposit sites within Umuahia and its environs was designed, developed and tested. Consideration of relevant design theories and their practical applications were used to size appropriately the components of the furnace while the materials for the components were selected based on functionality, durability, availability and cost. The tilting was achieved by manually operating a hand wheel mounted on the input shaft of a worm gear speed reducer gearbox whose output shaft is attached to one of the tilting shafts via a flanged coupling. Samples of clay from clay deposit sites within Umuahia and environs were tested. The properties investigated in samples include; chemical omposition, refractoriness, apparent porosity, cold crushing strength, thermal shock resistance, shrinkage on firing and resistance to slag attack. The Ohia clay was selected considering its properties and availability, was mixed with additives such as silica sand, sodium chloride and sawdust, and used to mould the refractory bricks. The furnace was tested with charcoal, diesel and spent engine oil. The designed capacity of the furnace is 20kg of aluminium per batch. The performance test analysis showed the energy efficiency of the furnace to be 16.66%. This is as the result of high amount of energy wasted as flue gases. The unit cost of fabrication of the furnace is N135,980.00 which is much cheaper than the imported ones. It is recommended that the clay from Ohia be explored for the production of refractory bricks as it will reduce the dependence on imported refractory materials.