Development of an Evaluation Method for the Pore Structure of Sinter Cake and Its Application to the Permeability Analysis

Abstract

Pore structure of sinter cake was observed three-dimensional with high energy X-ray computerized tomography. Most of pores of 5 mm or more in two-dimensional size were three-dimensional stem pores composing a complicated network linked with each other.
A new analysis method employing the X-ray computerized tomography has been developed for evaluating the sinter cake pore structure, based on a network model. This method has successfully made it possible to quantify the complexities of the pore network and pore thickness.
Applying this method to the analysis of the sinter cakes having the different permeability, importance of pore branch structure for the permeability was elucidated. Promoting the coalescence of iron ore particles securing stem pores improves the permeabilty of sinter cake because of producing a permeable pore network.