Ferroalloy is one of the essential and important raw materials in the steel industry and mechanical casting industry. With the continuous and rapid development of China’s steel industry, the variety and quality of steel continue to expand, posing higher requirements for ferroalloy products.
(1) Used as Oxygen scavenger. The binding strength of various elements in molten steel to oxygen, i.e. the deoxygenation ability, is in the order of strength from weak to strong: chromium, manganese, carbon, silicon, vanadium, titanium, boron, aluminum, zirconium, and calcium. The commonly used deoxygenation in steelmaking is an iron alloy composed of silicon, manganese, aluminum, and calcium.
(2) Used as an alloying agent. The elements or alloys used to adjust the chemical composition of steel for alloying are called alloying agents. Commonly used alloying elements include silicon, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, titanium, tungsten, cobalt, boron, niobium, etc.
(3) Used as a nucleating agent for casting. In order to change the solidification conditions, certain iron alloys are usually added as crystal nuclei before pouring, forming grain centers, making the formed graphite fine and dispersed, and refining the grains, thereby improving the performance of the casting.
(4) Used as a reducing agent. Silicon iron can be used as a reducing agent for producing ferroalloys such as ferromolybdenum and ferrovanadium, while silicon chromium alloy and silicon manganese alloy can be used as reducing agents for refining medium to low carbon ferrochromium and medium to low carbon ferromanganese, respectively.
(5) Other purposes. In the non-ferrous metallurgical and chemical industries, ferroalloys are also increasingly widely used.
Post time: Jun-15-2023
