1999 Volume 85 Issue 10 Pages 711-716
It is well-known that size of limestone affects productivity and reduction degradation index (RDI) in iron are sintering, and that the change in productivity is due to change in permeability of sinter bed and the change in RDI is due to change in mineralogy of sinter. This work has measured structure and permeability of sintercake by an X-ray CT scanner and pressure proves inserted into sinter bed, respectively, and dis-cussed how their changes contribute to the productivity and RDI. As a result, with increasing in size of limestone, the diameter of pores in sintercake increases because of increase in the volume of free melt. The shape of sinter becomes spherical in the same manner. The change in sintercake structure contributes to the increase in bed-permeability during sintering by about 20%. The change in the shape of pore in sinter reinforces tumbling strength, possibly resulting in improvement of RDI.
