Calcium ferrite formation characteristic during iron ore sintering with different oxygen atmospheres

Abstract

It is generally known that the large formation amount of calcium ferrite is favorable for the iron ore sintering. The effects of sintering temperature and O2 content of inlet gas on the calcium ferrite formation characteristic of typical iron ores, including hematite, limonite, specularite and magnetite, were investigated. And the effect of O2 content on the microstructure of the roasted briquettes was also studied in detail. The results show the amount of calcium ferrite initially increases then decreases with the increase of the sintering temperature. The temperature of maximum calcium ferrite generation amount is determined as follows: for hematite and limonite it is 1275 °C, whereas for specularite and magnetite, 1250 °C. The maximum contents of calcium ferrite for hematite, limonite, specularite and magnetite under the optimal sintering temperature are 73%, 82%, 67% and 63%, respectively. Increasing O2 content of the airflow is advantageous to the formation of calcium ferrite. Relatively, the effect of O2 content on the calcium ferrite formation of magnetite is the most pronounced, while O2 content of inlet gas has little effect on the calcium ferrite formation of limonite.