Study on the Rete of Reduction of Solid Silica by Carbon in Liquid Iron

Abstract

The reduction of solid silica by carbon (about 4 and 2%) in liquid iron was investigated at tem-peratures between 1360 and 1550°C under an atmospheric pressure of carbon monoxide.
In higher carbon melts, the silicon content of liquid iron increased linearly with time during the course of experiment, but not in lower carbon melts, and in the latter case a linear relation between [%Si] ³² and [Ft/v] was found.
In each series, apparent activation energies for the reaction were 90 and 128 kcal, respectively.
These results suggest that in higher carbon melt, the reaction may be controlled by the dissociation of silica and in lower carbon melt the oxygen diffusion may be the controlling step.
Furthermore, the amount of CO evolved during the reaction was measured and the relation to the increase of silicon content was examined.