Dataset produced by automated sand-rammer, clay-gun, and plate viscometer for three different tap-hole clays

In pyrometallurgical furnace operation, tap-hole clay is injected into the tap-hole using a clay-gun. The goals are to stop the metal and/or slag from flowing and to create a seal between the furnace contents and the environment. The rheological properties of the tap-hole clay play an important role in this process. Some commercial manufacturers of tap-hole clay report the workability index (WI) of their products, based on sand-rammer technology and standardised procedures. In the paper presented here, datasets are presented for three different tap-hole clays where the effect of the choice in clay on the pilot-scale clay-gun was demonstrated and an automated sand-rammer was utilised to determine the standard WI as well as an extended WI. A plate viscometer, utilised in the characterisation of electrode paste, was applied as potential alternative technology utilised when characterising the rheological properties of tap-hole clays. In all three instances, the data collection process was automated with raw and/or filtered data, available as Excel spreadsheets, published in an online repository. For the purpose of this paper, the data was analysed and presented as graphs or in tables. The data will be of future use for further studies into the effect of tap-hole clay rheology on clay-gun performance.