Iron and Steel Division - Equilibrium in the Fe-Mn-Si-O System

Many investigations have shown that the manganese enhances the deoxidation power of silicon. Here it is suggested that this phenomenon could be explained in terms of the formation of impure silica. Data of Hilty and Crafts on the Fe-Mn-Si-O System has been evaluated on the basis of the reaction S_i + 20 = (SiO2) where (SiO2) denotes silica of variable activity. The activity of silica in this system is a function of aMn/aSi and the temperature, and can be described by the equation 12700 l°gaSiOz = -6.85+ - - 0.5 log aMn /asi PRACTICAL melting experience has shown that it is helpful to maintain a certain range of Mn/Si ratio in deoxidizing quality alloy steels. Herty,1 as early as 1932, reported a strong association between manganese and silicon as did schenck2 and Korber and Oelsen3 in later work. More recently, Hilty and crafts4 have studied the solubility of oxygen in the Fe-Si-O system, both with and without manganese. Their study confirmed the marked ability of manganese to increase the deoxidizing power of silicon. This phenomenon has remained unexplained in the liter,ature5 since it has been shown that manganese has virtually no influence on the activity coefficients of silicon or oxygen.= In this paper, an explanation for the role of manganese is suggested and equations are devised for quantitatively describing this influence. DISCUSSION Hilty and crafts4 equilibrated their melts under an argon atmosphere and the system established equilibrium with a self-generated slag which was not always the oxide of lowest free energy. Drawing on the early work of Korber and Oelsen,3 it was reasoned that the formation of complex Fe-Mn-silicates