Equilibrium Phase Relations for a SiO2-Al2O3-FeOx System at 1300 °C and 1400 °C in Air

Abstract

A long-term fundamental study for the construction of the thermodynamic database of a metallurgical slag system has been proposed. In the present work, the equilibrium phase relations for the key ternary SiO2-Al2O3-FeOx system at 1300 °C and 1400 °C in air were experimentally determined by the equilibrium-quenching technique, followed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer analysis. The oxidation states of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 were confirmed at 1300 °C and 1400 °C, respectively, from both XPS detection and FactSage calculation. Within the high-SiO2 composition range, the solid phases of silica, mullite, magnetite and ferric oxide were confirmed as the equilibrium phases. Based on the equilibrium compositions, the 1300 °C and 1400 °C isotherms were projected onto a SiO2-Al2O3-FeOx quasi-ternary phase diagram; however, obvious discrepancies with about a 20 °C difference were confirmed from further comparison with the predictions given by FactSage, indicating that more efforts are needed for the updating of the current thermodynamic database relating to metallurgical slag oxide systems.