The solubility of copper in lime-saturated and calcium ferrite-saturated liquid iron oxide

The solubility of copper in lime-saturated and calcium ferrite-saturated liquid iron oxide has been measured at 1300 °C by equilibrating copper-gold alloys with the melts in CO-CO₂ atmospheres of oxygen potentials 10^?7, 10^?8, 10^?9, and 10^?10 atm. It was found that copper exhibits Henrian behavior in the oxide melts and that the solubility is given by $$wt pct Cu = 17.6a_{CuO_{0.5} } $$ The copper capacity of the melts, 17.6, is approximately one-half of that of silica-saturated iron silicate melts at the same temperature. The results are compared with those of previous studies, and the difference between the solubilities of copper in silica-saturated and lime-saturated melts are discussed in terms of ionic interactions in the melts.