This analysis reveals how aluminium oxide alters viscosity and silicate structure in slags, suggesting potential improvements in gas-injection blast furnace performance.
This study investigates the effect of Al 2 O 3 content on the structure and flow properties of high-basicity (R 2 = 1.6) and low-FeO slag formed at the lower boundary of the cohesive zone in gas-injection blast furnaces. The role of Al 2 O 3 in influencing the fluidity and molten structure of slag before dripping in gas-injection blast furnaces was analyzed by using viscosity-temperature tests, FITR, Raman, NMR and XPS spectroscopy, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results show that as the Al 2 O 3 content increases, the free running temperature of the slag shows an upward trend, reaching its minimum at an Al 2 O 3 content of 14.18 wt.%. Al 2 O 3 promotes the transition of silicate structures from chain-like to more complex ring or layered structures, thereby increasing the polymerization degree of the melt. Spectroscopic and MD simulation analyses indicate that the addition of Al 2 O 3 disrupts the original Si-O-Si bonds, forming more Si-O-Al and Al-O-Al bonds. Moreover, the structural stability is enhanced by the decreasing of bond lengths of these bonds. The findings demonstrate that under high-basicity conditions, Al 2 O 3 primarily participates in the silicate structure in the form of [AlO 4 ] tetrahedra to complicate the structure of the melt.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Chen et al. (2025) studied this question.