Study on liquid phase formation and fluidity of iron ores

The sinter strength is guaranteed by liquid phase formation and agglomeration of the unmelted materials. Liquid phase formation and fluidity of iron ores are the basic which have significant influence on the yield and quality of the sinter. In this study, first the thermodynamic analysis of liquid phase formation was carried out with FactSage on seven kinds of domestic and overseas iron ores. Second, the generation speed, the amount of liquid phase and fluidity index of the sinters were measured and analyzed. The results indicated that the sinter liquid formation increased with rising temperature. When the reaction temperature was 1050 °C, a part of iron ore generated some liquid phase at a rapid speed, and the production of the liquid phase of most iron ores reached the highest level at about 1350 °C. As there is a large difference about liquid phase fluidity between different iron ores, the iron ores with worse fluidity could be used for matching with the iron ores of better fluidity in order to meet the quality requirements of the sinter.