Low-Carbon Speciality Ferro-alloys
Introduction
BARC over the last many years has been engaged in the development of process flow sheets for the extraction and refining of refractory and reactive metals and their alloys. As an extension of these programs, detailed R and D efforts have been directed towards thermit reduction technology for the production of low carbon speciality ferro-alloys. The list includes FeV, FeMo, FeNb, FeW, FeCr, FeTi and FeB which are produced from their respective oxide intermediates. The scale of development operation has been confined to a maximum of 10 kg batches of the oxides.
The manufacturing process for these ferro-alloys can be broken down into following process steps:
- Reactor preparation,
- Raw-material preparation,
- Charging,
- Triggering,
- Separation.
Salient features of the thermit process are :
- Production of ferro-alloys with low-carbon (0.1%),
- High recovery of the primary metal,
- Rapid completion of the reduction,
- Essentially a non-furnace process and does not require external heating in most cases. In some cases where the exothermic heat of the reaction is low, pre-heating of the reaction charge may be necessary,
- Low capital investment.
For further information please contact
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre,
Trombay, Mumbai- 400 085
Tel : 091-022-25505337/25593897
Fax : 091-022-25505151
Email : headttcd@barc.gov.in
