Quantitative Analysis of Mineral Phases in Sinter Ore by Rietveld Method

Abstract

Quantification techniques of mineral phases in iron ore sinter has been developed by using Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns and applied to iron ore sinters made by the sinter pot test in a laboratory. Rietveld refinements successfully determined phase fractions and structural parameters in co-existing phases such as hematite (α-Fe₂O₃), magnetite (Fe₃O₄), multi-component calcium-ferrites (SFCA: Ca₂ (Ca, Fe, Al)₆ (Fe, Al, Si)₆O₂₀ and SFCA-I: Ca₂(Ca, Fe)₃ (Ca, Fe, Al)₈ (Fe, Al)₈ O₂₀) and other minor phases.

It was found that strength of iron ore sinter was correlated with quantity of magnetite, and not with quantity of calcium-ferrites. And the lattice constants of calcium-ferrites were different among the specimens obtained from different positions within the sinter.

Rietveld analysis was shown to be a straightforward and high-throughput technique for quantification of mineral phases in the iron ore sinter and the obtained crystallographic parameters can be used as a useful indicator to investigate the sinter reaction.