posted on 2024-07-09, 19:58authored byZhe Wang, David Pinson, Sheng Chew, Brain Monaghan, Paul Zulli, Harold Rogers, Mark PowncebyMark Pownceby, Liming Lu, Guangqing Zhang
New Zealand ironsand is a kind of titanomagnetite containing about 60 wt.% iron, 8 wt.% titania and a small amount of other impurities such as silica, phosphorus and lime [1, 2]. Since it is competitive in price, introduction of the ironsand into the ferrous feed can reduce the production cost and potentially increase blast furnace campaign life [3]. An appropriate method of introduction of ironsand is as a component of the sinter as its small size precludes direct charging into the blast furnace. The final commercial sinter mainly contains hematite, magnetite, calcium ferrite and glassy silicate. Their relative proportions depend on different parameters, such as sintering temperature, composition, oxygen partial pressure and sintering time. Many investigators [4-6] have made attempts to investigate how various mineral phases are developed in sinter, but there has been no satisfactory final conclusion until now due to the complexity of raw materials and variation of sintering conditions.