Preparation of enstatite-spinel based glass-ceramics from ferronickel slag and iron ore tailings by microwave-assisted one-step crystallization

Abstract

A novel method to prepare high-quality enstatite-spinel based glass-ceramics by co-utilization of ferronickel slag (FNS) and iron ore tailings (IOT) via microwave-assisted one-step crystallization was proposed with an emphasis on the effect of IOT content on the preparation process. The thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that incorporating appropriate amounts of IOT into FNS can effectively transform olivine in FNS into enstatite. The experimental exploration revealed that the crystallization activation energy of the parent glass decreased from 564.6 kJ/mol to 351.93 kJ/mol when the IOT content increased from 30 wt% to 45 wt%. Meanwhile, the Avrami index of the parent glass increased from 3.88 to 4.81, indicating less depolymerization. In the subsequent crystallization process, with increasing content of IOT, the main phase was enstatite, accompanied by small amounts of spinel which acted as nucleation sites promoting the enstatite formation. Due to the decreased depolymerization degree that resulted in fewer nucleation sites, the average grain size of enstatite increased from 123 nm to 196 nm. By controlling crystallization of the melted mixture of 65 wt% FNS and 35 wt% IOT at 863 °C for 20 min, the resulting enstatite-spinel based glass-ceramics had excellent comprehensive properties, namely density of 3.13 g/cm3, bending strength of 153.53 MPa, Vickers microhardness of 9.22 GPa, acid resistance of 99.89%, and alkali resistance of 99.72%. With a much shorter crystallization time (1/6 of conventional one), the product obtained by microwave-assisted one-step crystallization had properties comparable to those derived from similar wastes.