Electrical Conductivity and Electronic/Ionic Properties of TiO _x -CaO-SiO₂ Slags at Various Oxygen Potentials and Temperatures

The electrical conductivity of molten slags is an extremely important factor in the design of electric smelting furnaces. As a fundamental study on properties of the TiO _x -bearing slags, the total electrical conductivity and electronic/ionic properties of TiO _x -SiO₂-CaO slags were measured at different oxygen potentials and temperatures using four-electrode method. The experiment results show that for a specific composition, the temperature dependences of ionic, electronic, and total conductivity obey the Arrhenius law. The stepped potential chronoamperometry method was employed for measuring the electronic transference number, which exhibits a strong dependence on oxygen potential, but is unaffected by temperature. The total electrical, electronic, and ionic conductivities present similar increasing trends with increasing the ratio of CO/CO₂, which is resulted from increasing of Ti³⁺.