Study On The Influence Of SiO₂ And CaSiO₃ On The Preparation Of FeTi By Electrolytic Reduction Of Ilmenite Concentrate

Ferrotitanium has broad application prospect and high industrial economic value in iron and steel industry,hydrogen storage alloy and magnetic materials.The traditional methods of producing titanium ferroalloy are mainly aluminum thermo reduction and remelting.However,these methods have obivious shortcomings such as low purity,difficult removal of impurities and high production cost,which limits the application of ferrotitanium products.High-temperature molten salt electrolysis method is a new technique for the preparation of ferrotitanium,which has advantages of the electrochemical reduction process compared with traditional method are simple technology,high purity of products and environmental friendliness,it is widely concerned by scholars at home and abroad.At present,however,almost of all studies on the preparation of FeTi alloy from ilmenite by FFC method have an inevitable problem,which is the long time of electrolysis.So,in this paper,SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ was manually added into the raw material to investigate its effect on the electrochemical reduction of ilmenite concentrate in CaCl₂ molten salt,in order to shorten the reaction time of FeTi alloy produced by electrolytic reduction of ilmenite.The main research results are drawn as follows:?1?The addition of SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ play an important role on preparation of ferrotitanium from ilmenite concentrate by electrochemical reduction in CaCl₂ molten salt.Adding a certain amount of SiO₂ or CaSiO₃ in the ilmenite concentrate can promote the reduction of CaTiO3 and other intermediate products,so as to effectively improve the electrolytic reduction rate of ilmenite concentrate.The optimized addition of SiO₂and CaSiO₃ are mole ratio Ti:Fe:Si=1.2:1:0.2 and Ti:Fe:Si=1.2:1:0.3,respectively.?2?The SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ added in the cathode was preferentially reduced to Si,which could in turn participate in the reduction of CaTiO₃ and other intermediates.As a result,the theoretical potentials for the formation of FeTi alloy from the intermediates would be reduced and hence the electrolytic process would be promoted.Besides,the micromorphology of the ferrotitanium product electrolyzed for 2h at 1173K and 3.2V is porous in structure and uniform in particles size with SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ addition in the ilmenite concentrate.?3?In the range of 2.8V³.2V,SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ could promote the reduction of intermediate products.And,with the increase of cell voltage,the effect of SiO₂ and CaSiO₃ on ilmenite concentrate reduction is more obvious.The particle of electrolytic cathode product is smaller with the cell voltage increases.