Liquidus Surface of FeO-Fe₂O₃-SiO₂-CaO Slags at Constant CO₂/CO Ratios

Abstract

Liquidus surface of FeO-Fe₂O₃-SiO₂-CaO slags is an important parameter in various smelting and converting processes. It helps not only to optimize the slag chemistry of current processes and their fluxing strategies but also to determine the availability of new slags for more advanced technologies. In our previous publications, the liquidus surface of some multicomponent iron oxide slags has been quantified at several constant oxygen potentials and the effect of the latter, ignored until that moment, was quantified along with the effect of some minor components. In this work, the liquidus surface of some iron oxide slags is quantified at constant CO₂/CO ratios. This is a new convenient way for the quantitative description of the slag liquidus surface and the effect of several fluxes, especially in those processes, such as slag solidification, where oxygen potential changes continuously. This type of diagram also describes more dynamically the effect of oxygen potential, clarifies the relation between CO₂/CO ratio and oxygen potential in terms of the liquidus surface (not widely understood by metallurgists today) and reduces the gap between laboratory work and industrial experience.