Phase Equilibria Study of the ZnO-“FeO”-SiO2-Al2O3 System at Po2 10−8 atm

Abstract

Phase equilibria studies on ZnO-“FeO”-SiO2-Al2O3 system have been carried out in the temperature range between 1523 K and 1573 K (1250 °C and 1300 °C) at Po2 10−8 atm. Experimental techniques applied in the present study include high temperature equilibration, quenching, and electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA). The compositions of the phases present in the quenched samples were measured by EPMA and used to construct phase diagrams of the pseudo-ternary sections at fixed Al2O3 content. The experimental results show that, spinel, SiO2, and willemite are the major primary phase fields in the composition range investigated. With 2 wt pct Al2O3 content in the liquid phase, the liquidus temperature can be increased by 35 K in the spinel primary phase in comparison with Al2O3-free system. The partitioning of ZnO and Al2O3 between the spinel and liquid phases is also discussed in the paper.