Iron ore sintering partially melts iron powder to remove non-ferrous particles before further processing. High-grade iron ore is crushed into fine particles for sintering, using substances such as coke breeze and burnt limestone. The process aims to create a consistent chemical composition, increase strength, and create a uniform particle size for specific manufacturing applications. Different sintering processes are used depending on the intended purpose of the finished product.
Iron ore sintering is a type of powder metallurgy used to pre-treat iron before using it in manufacturing applications. Sintering involves heating iron powder to partially, but not completely melt the iron particles. The exact process used and the additional elements involved vary, with some methods using gas or electricity in addition to heat. Through the iron ore sintering process, the iron is reduced by diffusion, thus removing the non-ferrous particles before further application-specific processing.
To understand iron ore sintering, you must first understand some aspects of raw iron ore. Raw iron ore is found all over the world and is, in fact, one of the most prevalent elements on earth. Mining operations extract raw ore from the earth’s crust, separating it into high and low grades, based on the amount of raw iron present. High grade iron ore has a higher concentration of iron than low grade iron ore. Typically, the iron concentration is between 65 and 72 percent.
Different processing methods, such as sintering and pelletizing, require different grades of iron ore. In particular, iron ore sintering requires the use of fine ore, which is produced by crushing high-grade iron ore into particles only a few millimeters in diameter. Depending on the specific machine and iron ore sintering process used, substances such as coke breeze and burnt limestone are used to ignite and heat the iron ore particles until the particles freeze. Once frozen in a slurry, the ore is crushed again. The screening guarantees the removal of non-ferrous particles and the average diameter of the remaining iron particles between 15 and 30 millimetres.
Other iron ore sinter processes use machines that take crushed iron ore and mix it with water and other substances, known as fluxes, before igniting the mixture. Electricity is conducted through the mixture and its surface is ignited to help form a agglomeration. Iron ore dust, as well as iron particles that do not meet size requirements, are recirculated through the machine with each batch of iron ore processed.
Primarily, the goals of iron ore sintering are to produce a consistent chemical composition, increase the strength of the iron particles, and create a uniform particle size. Thus, how iron ore is sintered depends on the intended purpose of the finished product. Some manufacturing applications require smaller particle sizes, while others require differences in particle strength. For example, metal-ceramic composites require a much finer grain size than the sintered iron used in some clutch plates. Likewise, some applications require the highest possible purity of iron and therefore require a different sintering process.
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