Insight into the Consolidation Mechanism of Oxidized Pellets Made from the Mixture of Magnetite and Chromite Concentrates

To produce more competitive stainless steel products, the utilization of low-cost chromite concentrate is of great importance. In a previous study, a high-quality product pellet (CMP) for blast furnace smelting process made from a mixture of 40 wt pct chromite and 60 wt pct magnetite concentrates was manufactured by a high-pressure grinding rollers pretreatment. In this work, an insight into the consolidation mechanism of CMP is taken in comparison with the oxidized pellets (MP) made from 100 pct magnetite concentrate by adopting the scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometer, and X-ray diffractometer. The mineralogy of the pellets and the morphology of the preheated and roasted mineral particles are demonstrated. To gain better understanding of the consolidation mechanism of CMP, the thermodynamics of chromite–magnetite spinel system and hematite–sesquioxide corundum system in air are considered by using FactSage software. It can be found that the solid-state bonding is the dominant form in the consolidation of CMP, which mainly depends on the recrystallization of hematite, the solid solution bonding in adjacent areas of both magnetite–chromite particles and chromite–chromite particles. The latter two bonds rely on the formation of the miscible sesquioxide and spinel solid solution at the contact areas of particles, which is largely affected by the oxidizability of magnetite and chromite spinels. When more chromite concentrate is blended, the weak bonding among the chromite particles gradually becomes the dominant factor, which will lead to the decrease of the mechanical strength of fired pellets. The presence of a small quantity of siliceous liquid phase in CMP is believed to be beneficial to the hardening by accelerating the ion diffusion rate and forming slag bonds.