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By Mariola Saternus

The quality of the liquid metal has the biggest influence on the quality of the final products. In the metallurgical industry, and especially in aluminium production the refining process is the important technological stage. Today the most popular are refining reactors with impellers like URO ? 200, which can generate small gas bubbles. A rotary impeller also makes the metal bath to be stirred well. There are two basic hydrodynamic parameters: the flow rate of refining gas and the mixing of refining gas (impeller rotation) that influence metal stirring and generating small gas bubbles. The paper presents the influence of the flow rate of refining gas on the hydrogen removal process from aluminium (final hydrogen concentration), taking into consideration the refining process of AlSi7Mg alloy and using URO - 200. The mathematical model of this process is also presented. The equation needed for calculation of the final hydrogen concentration as a function of the equivalent bubble diameter is shown. Basing on this equation the calculations of bubble diameter and optimal refining time are done. This paper presents the physical model (the water one) of aluminium refining process and the gas dispersion taking into account the fact that the gas flow rate is changing from 2,5 to 17,5 l/min and the impeller speed is changing from 0 to 400 rpm. Schemes of gas dispersion in liquid metal in comparison with the model data are shown and the optimal values of the gas flow rate and the impeller speed are chosen.

Jan 1, 2006

By Pradeep kumar Jha, Manas Mohan Mahapatra, Sabin Kumar Mishra, Satish Kumar Ajmani, Satish C. Sharma

"Due to mechanical/ electrical failure in the C.C. line or inadequate availability of molten steel from coming ladle, sometimes one/two outlets of a multi-strand tundish in continuous casting unit is closed. Closing any of the outlets affects the flow distribution inside the tundish which in turn governs the quality of steel coming out. Hence it is important to study which of the outlets should be closed to have proper results in terms of flow behavior and inclusion removal inside the tundish. Present study aims at finding the effect of closing one or two outlets on flow behavior and inclusion removal in a multi strand tundish. It was found that closing the near outlet (outlet near to the inlet) increases the inclusion removal tendency than closing the other two outlets in a six-strand billet caster tundish (only three outlets are considered because of symmetry).IntroductionContinuous casting process transforms molten metal into solid on a continuous basis. This process is the most efficient way to solidify large volumes of metal into simple shapes for subsequent processing [1]. Molten metal is tapped into the ladle from furnaces. From the ladle, the hot metal is transferred via a refractory shroud (pipe) to a holding bath called a tundish. The tundish allows a reservoir of metal to feed the casting machine while ladles are switched, thus acting as a buffer of hot metal as well as smoothing out flow, regulating metal feed to the moulds and cleaning the metal [2]."

Jan 1, 2012

Steel Ladle in Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL, India, passes through VAD & LF-RH route and this exposes refractory lining to a severe operating conditions. Ladles are lined with in-house manufactured MgO-C refractories. Lining life used to be 35 heats, out of which 18-20 heats were through VAD/LF-RH, hence, ladle availability had become a constraint. Laboratory studies were carried-out to optimize granulometry and composition. Granulometry was developed by adopting Andearssen packing model. A suitable plasiticiser was identified to eliminate inconsistency caused due to variation in resin quality and weather condition. It reduced variation in green bulk density from 6 to 1.3%. Abrasion and slag erosion studies were conducted, which shows that with increase of carbon, abrasion resistance decreases and corrosion resistance improves. Based on these studies, graphite in slag zone was increased from 10 to 12.5% and in metal zone it was reduced to 7.5%. Different process parameters of brick making were optimized to make MgO-C bricks of maximum bulk density with reduced coke porosity. Modified bricks have bulk density of 2.99-3.02 g/cc and coke porosity of 9.5-10.5%. Further, shape of the bricks were changed from side arch to mini keys and thickness was increased from 80 to 100 mm. Mini key bricks are pressed from sides, thus eliminating variation in thickness which is critical dimension for dry joints. These modifications improved average lining life of steel ladles to 64 heats, which includes 37-40 secondary heats. Maximum life obtained is 87 heats.

Jan 1, 2006

By Alim Ullah

Process, quality and management control are necessary in order to produce DRI of required quality and at minimum cost. Although the characteristics of the two (2) principal inputs, that is, iron oxide feed and natural gas (for gas-based DRI plants) can affect the operation of a DRI plant significantly, they are outside the control of plant operators, at least in the short run. The quantity of reduction gas, its composition and reduction gas temperature are some of the key process variables. Statistical Process Control (SPC) can be used in a DRI plant to minimize the production of off-grade material and costs, as well as to improve the overall operation of the plant. One of the key quality variables to be measured and controlled is percent metallization, defined as FeM/FeT*100 where, FeM and FeT respectively are metallic iron and total iron in DRI. Control charts are used to monitor the quality of DRI produced and, when necessary, corrective actions are taken to bring the product back within the control limits. Management control can consist of essentially following how well the plant performs against some pre-established standards of parameters like daily production, downtime, consumption of material and energy, etc. In this respect, it is suggested that yield, defined as theoretical consumption/actual consumption of iron oxide feed, be used to monitor the consumption of feed material. Similarly, instead of using natural gas per ton of DRI produced, a better criterion would be efficiency, defined as theoretical natural gas consumption/actual natural gas consumption.

Jan 1, 2006

By Florian Kongoli

Minor components and flux additions can modify the liquidus temperatures of multicomponent slags. In industrial practice, slags with various levels of minor components require various flux additions in order to achieve the lowest possible liquidus temperature The prediction and the optimization of these combinations can decrease the cost of the overall process. In this work the effect of several minor components and flux additions such as Al2O3, MgO, and CaO, on the liquidus temperatures of multicomponent iron-silicate slags has been analyzed in terms of a thermodynamic model Various simple isothermal and non-isothermal diagrams are presented. These diagrams can be used directly by the process operators to define the optimum conditions under which the fluxes can be used to achieve the desired slag liquidus temperatures.

Jan 1, 1999

By Jian Li, S. Penttilä, P. Liu, W. Zheng, C. Bibby

"The materials selection for Gen IV supercritical water reactor in-core components faces major challenges due to severe operating condition. The current Canadian pressure-tube supercritical water (SCW) concept design requires core outlet temperature of 650 °C at 25 MPa with peak cladding temperature reaching as high as 850 °C. Aside from oilier challenges, there is currently very limited data on candidate stainless steels' corrosion resistance under this operating condition. Austenite stainless steels that include 316L, 304H, AL6XN and 3 l0S that cover a wide range of Cr contents are promising candidates for either direct in core applications or as base coating materials. However, their corrosion resistance has not been tested systematically under this stringent condition. In this study, these types of stainless steels are tested, and their corrosion resistances are compared.IntroductionThe Canadian pressure-tube supercritical water (SCW) concept will operate at a core outlet temperature of 650 °C at a pressure of 25 MPa, with potential peak cladding temperature reaching as high as 850 °C. High-temperature corrosion resistance is one of the key design requirements for fuel cladding components. As summarized by Allen [1 ], most testing to date has been carried out at temperatures below 730 °C. To date, SCW corrosion data above 600 °C is very limited. Even at relatively low temperature exposure to SCW (e.g. 500 °C), F/M steels develop a thick oxide layer rapidly, while some austenitic stainless steels develop thinner surface oxide. Ni based alloys appear to form very thin surface oxide, however pitting was observed in the vicinity of intermetallic precipitates [2-5]. Dissolution of major alloying components from all of these alloys could also pose significant problems for downstream piping [6]. Kaneda et al. [7] suggested some modified stainless steels provide better SCW general corrosion resistance, with no sign of SCC under the slow-strain rate test.Cho [8] suggested that as the Cr content increase, general corrosion resistance improved at 510 °C and 25 MPa. However, similar to Cho's work, most of the SCW corrosion resistance assessments were based on weight change measurement. This can be unreliable due to potential exfoliation of thick oxide film. Besides, there have been no systematic SCW corrosion resistance tests for candidate stainless steels under higher temperatures. SCW corrosion rate increase dramatically for alloys tested at 600 °C [1]. It is also important to understand the role of major alloying elements under this stringent operating condition, not only for fuel cladding components' materials selection, but also for coating materials development."

Jan 1, 2013

By Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório, Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Viviane Tavares Moraes

"The development of mobile phone technology has increased the replacement of outdated equipments for more modern models, transforming disposal of such devices into a serious environmental problem. Recycling appears as an attractive alternative to minimize the environmental impact of disposing such large quantities. Recycling can be accomplished by treating the printed circuit boards of used mobile phones by using the same techniques used in ore treatments with hammer mill; magnetic separation, electrostatic separation and grain size range. Before performing the recycling process a PCB characterization was performed to identify the fraction with the higher metals concentration/content. This study demonstrated that the electrostatic separation was not the best metals concentration of PCB aiming the recycling, while the non-magnetic residue had presented a more significant metal concentration. Furthermore, after the magnetic separation was possible to separate the following metals: iron and nickel.IntroductionPortable electronic devices have gained increasing acceptance over the last decades. Mobile phones sales in Brazil, for instance, have reached 104 million in 2007, and 128 million in 2008. It is estimated that, around the world, 100 million mobiles are thrown away every year, either because of loss of functionality or because newer models are launched in the market [1,2, 3]. Printed circuit boards in mobile phones are made of many materials, with approximately 83% in weight being metals and fiber-glass, and the balance being plastics pl. Several metals can be recovered from the electronics waste, such as copper, tin, iron, lead, nickel, titanium, aluminium as well as some precious metals such as gold, silver and palladium [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Concurrent with the increasing world demand for copper, there average metal content in ores has been decreasing. Economically interesting copper mines used to have 4% metal content, whereas presently, such content is around 1%, i.e., for every 1 ton of ore extracted, only 10 kg are copper [9, 10]. Approximately 33% of printed circuit boards (PCBs) composition is copper, that is, for every 1 ton of PCBs waste, 330 kg are copper [1]. Research in recycling PCB waste focuses on mechanical, electrometallurgy, pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes [3, 8]. Collecting and recycling obsoletes electro-electronic equipments is very important these days, in order to, not just preserve the non renewable natural resources but also to keep the environment and the population safe from the pollution caused by the toxic materials and heavy metals present in this kind of waste."

Jan 1, 2011

By Bing Song, Fei Xi, Xuewei Lv, Kai Zhang

The electric arc furnace process is a common method to produce high TiO2 slag from ilmenite. The pre-reduction process was proposed in recent years in order to reduce electricity consumption. In order to enhance the pre-reduction degree, high energy ball milling was proposed to improve the specific surface area of the ilmenite prior to reduction. In this study, the carbothermic reduction behavior of milled ilmenite concentrate was investigated. It was found that the ball milling method can result in a higher reduction rate and improved metallization of iron. The metallization of iron increased with increasing the time of ball milling. The metallization of iron with milling reached 89.49% when the time of ball milling was 70 min., while the FeO content decreased with 70 min. of milling from 11.84% to 4.76%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Chai Li-yuan

The anodic behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy in NaOH alkaline solution was investigated in this paper. The effects of anodizing parameters, such as applied current density, concentration of NaOH and temperature of the solution on the formation, structure and surface morphology of the anodic films were also studied. The formation of the anodic film was analyzed by analyzing the anodic polarization curves, the potential-time curves and XRD, SEM graphs of samples obtained at different anodizing time. The results of corrosion resistance tests, XRD and SEM observation showed that the temperature greatly affected the formation and anti-corrosion property of the anodic film, but the concentration of NaOH not. The film with best anti-corrosion resistance was obtained at applied current density of 10mA/cm2, 353k in 1mol/l NaOH solution.

Jan 1, 2006

By Tang Chaobo

According to the principles of simultaneous chemical equilibrium and electronic charge neutrality, the system of Mg(II)-NH3-CO32--SO42--H2O at 25°C has been thermodynamically analyzed. And the rule of solubility of MgCO3(s) in the system is discovered, the high dissolution field of MgCO3(s) is discovered too. Furthermore, the solubility of MgCO3(s) is increased with the increase of the concentration of SO42-, but it is decreased first then increased with the increase of the concentration of all the CO32- and the total concentration of ammonia and ammonium, and decreased with the value of pH being higher. Those results will has important significance on prepare magnesium chemical products and other salts carbonate that are strict with the content of magnesium with carburization method.

Jan 1, 2006

By Catherine Williams-Beam

Thallium is more toxic to humans than mercury, cadmium, lead, copper or zinc. Its chemical behavior resembles the alkali metals (K, Rb, Cs). It occurs almost exclusively in natural waters the monovalent thallous cation. The solubilities of thallous compounds are relatively high so that monovalent thallium is readily transported through aqueous routes into the environment. The major sources of thallium are the base metal sulfides and precious metal bearing sulfides. Therefore, it is often present as a contaminant constituent in waters emanating from heavy metal sulfide bearing deposits. Thallium can be effectively removed from wastewater to <2 µg/L by reductive precipitation of thallium sulfide. Effective thallium sulfide precipitation requires a controlled solution potential/pH combination. The required potential can be effectively achieved by utilizing a particulate iron slurry or packed column environment. Experimental results will be presented and discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By Banqiu Wu, Ramana G. Reddy, Robin D. Rogers

Experimental studies on aluminum recycling via electrolysis in ionic liquids were carried out at the temperature of 105°C. Impure aluminum was dissolved at the anode and pure aluminum was deposited on a copper cathode. The products were characterized using an optical microscope, micro-image analyzer, X-ray diffraction, emission spectrometer, and atomic absorption analyzer. The electrorefining process with a current density of 310 - 730 AJm2, and current efficiency of about 99% was obtained. Impurities such as Si, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mg, Cr, Ni, Mn and Pb were removed as anode residue. Impure aluminum was purified from 79.8wt% to 99.9wt%. At a cell voltage of 1 volt, the energy consumption of about 3 kWh/kg-Al was obtained. The process has advantages of low energy consumption and low pollutant emissions, compared with the current industrial refining process.

Jan 1, 2000

By R. J. Chesher, J. C. Anzalone, T. F. Krusmark

The BHP Copper Refinery at San Manuel, AZ employs conventional electro-refining technology, plating at a current density of 335 A/m2 on six kilogram copper starter sheets. In 1995, a combination of variable anode chemistries and increasing current density in the tankhouse created periods of increased bismuth in cathode. Bismuth in electrolyte was minimized by bleeding electrolyte to the nearby BHP leaching facility. However, the expected drop in cathode bismuth was not achieved. Investigations indicated that starter sheets contained a significant concentration of bismuth. The bismuth was found to occur in combination with antimony on the surface of the sheet adjacent to the mother blank. Studies were conducted to determine the mechanism by which Group VB elements are incorporated into the starte sheets. Operational practices were introduced to minimize bismuth in starter sheets and improve cathode quality.

Jan 1, 1997

By Xiangjun Zuo, Lifeng Zhang

"Printed Wiring Board (PWB) is a platform upon which microelectronic components such as semiconductor chips and capacitors are mounted. It is also called printed circuit board (PCB). In the PWBs, the organic substances are approximately 72%. The main composition of organic substances in PWBs is ethoxyline resin bromide or ethoxyline resin chlorinate. Depending on the different application and design of the PWB, various metals may be used in the manufacturing process, including precious metals such as copper, lead, silver, gold, platinum, and toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium, barium, gallium, cadmium, lead, bismuth. The current paper reviewed the recycling process for waste PWB materials, including mechanical recycling, combustion for energy recovery and different pyrolysis processes, such as vacuum pyrolysis, atmospheric inert pyrolysi and flux pyrolysis process, and hydrometallurgical recycling process.Backgrounds of Electronic ScrapsProduction and use of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), such as TV sets, computers, mobile phones and many other daily-life items, have dramatically increased over past decades, while the lifespan of many products becomes shorter"". The rapid innovation in technology in past decades has resulted in availability of cheaper and better electronic products in the market. Thus the production of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is also increasing, with estimates of 20-50 million tons per year being generated worldwide2), and it is a problem that governments and policy makers have to handle W). WEEE is also called ""E-wastes"" or ""E-scraps"". From the points of view of recycling and the valuable materials in the used EEE, ""E-scrap"" is more appropriate than ""E-waste"" since the used EEE are not real wastes to be dumped but had much benefit to recycle. In the US, it was estimated that over 315 million computers between 1997 and 2004 and 185 million computers between 2004 and 2007 would become obsolete 5). E-scrap is the fastest-growing part of the U.S. garbage stream 6). It is estimated that only 20% of the E-scrap generated within the US is currently collected and treated, with as much as 80% being unaccounted for7)."

Jan 1, 2011

By Yan Fu, Chuanlin Fan, Xiujing Zhai, Yongfeng Chang, Binchuan Li

"The mechanism of the selective chlorination of nickel and cobalt in reduced limonitic laterite was investigated. Reduced ores were obtained from the reduction roasting of a limonitic nickel laterite. The thermal decomposition of related chlorides and the selective chlorination of the reduced ore were carefully studied using Differential Thermal analysis - Thermogravimetry (DTA-TG), X-Ray Diffraction and chemical leaching methods. In the temperature range of 300 - 500 °C, aluminum chloride hexahydrate was chosen as chloride agent. During the selective chlorination, reduced ore was partly chlorinated by hydrogen chloride generated from the thermal decomposition of chloride agent. Then the oxydrolysis of ferrous chloride re-generated hydrogen chloride was used to further the chlorination. Finally, iron was mostly rejected as hematite, while nickel and cobalt were selectively chlorinated. More than 91 %Ni , 90%Co and about 4%Fe in the chlorinated ore was extracted using a water leaching method.IntroductionLimonitic nickel laterite is an important nickel reserve, which is rich in iron in the form of goethite and has low contents of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and other elements. Goethite is the main nickel-bearing mineral in the laterite [1]. Nickel is generally present in goethite in three modes: (a) associated with amorphous or poorly crystalline goethite, (b) weakly adsorbed to the crystalline goethite surface, and ( c) as lattice substituents [2]. In addition, cobalt in limonite was found to be associated with a manganese phase rich also in nickel [3]. These results indicate that the extractions of nickel and cobalt are highly dependent upon the degree of the decomposition of the nickel, cobalt-bearing minerals.For the selective extraction of nickel and cobalt from limonitic laterite, the ore is usually processed by hydrometallurgical methods, including high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) [4] or reductive roasting - ammonia leaching (Caron process). However, there are still some disadvantages in these processes, such as the expense of autoclaves and scaling problems in HP AL [ 4, 5], and relatively low overall metal recovery, large energy and reagent requirements for the Caron process."

Jan 1, 2011

By Soumendra Basu, Uday Pal, Yang Yu, Srikanth Gopalan, Karl Ludwig, Deniz Cetin, Jacob Davis

"A limiting factor for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) performance is the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode surface. Changes in the surface composition and structure on annealing at 800°C has been studied, since these can influence the ORR. Idealized single crystals of cathode materials La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM) and La1-xSrxCoyFe1-yO3 (LSCF) were grown as heteroepitaxial thin films on lattice matched single crystal substrates. Changes upon heating the films to operating temperature and pressures were characterized using various synchrotron x-ray techniques. Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence (TXRF) measurements, which probe compositional changes, were made at high temperature in real time. The LSM surfaces were found to develop manganese enrichment when heated. Highly strontium doped LSCF were found to develop strontium-rich surfaces. HArd X-ray PhotoElectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES) was used to investigate the electronic structure of the materials. Highly strontium doped LSCF precipitates a surface strontium phase that contains both oxide and carbonate contributions.IntroductionSolid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are chemical to electrical energy conversion devices that could potentially reshape how energy demands are fulfilled. SOFCs have a potential efficiency over 70%, fuel flexibility, low emissions, and low degradation over long time scales. Commonly, SOFCs are operated at high temperatures (above 800°C). At these temperatures expensive housing is needed to contain an operating stack as well as coatings to contain the oxidation of the metallic interconnects. Lowering the temperature of an operating device would allow for more conventional materials to be used, thus lowering overall cost. Understanding the reaction kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction at the surface of the cathode is vital to designing a system that will perform well at lower temperatures. A commercialization goal is to reduce operating temperatures without sacrificing performance.In order to exploit the advantages of SOFCs, an understanding is needed of the surface chemical states of cations on the surface of the cathode and how this relates to the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR):"

Jan 1, 2014

By Wilky Desrosin, Alicia E. Ares, Carlos E. Schvezov

"In the present research the horizontal directional solidification Zn-Sn alloys (Zn-4wt. %Sn, Zn- 6wt. %Sn, Zn-10wt.%Sn and Zn-30wt.%Sn) was carried out by extracting heat in two opposite directions. For this purpose, ceramic molds, a muffie, a horizontal furnace with two heat extraction systems at the ends, a measurement, acquisition and recording temperature system, eight K-type thermocouples and an electronic recorder were used. The main parameters involved in the columnar-to-equiaxed transition, CET, were: the moment of start and end of solidification at each position under consideration, cooling rates, the average temperature gradients and critical temperature gradients at the CET, the average speed of liquid and solid interphases left and right, advancing in opposite directions. Also, solidification kinetics was found to be different between horizontal solidification two-way heat extractions, with preliminary results of the vertical unidirectional solidification. In the solidification experiments, the velocity and accelerations of the liquidus and solidus interphases usually occurs at the end solidification zone of the samples.IntroductionSolidification of metal alloys, which starts in the external equiaxed region (chill), results in two basic types of structures in a single solidified alloy sample: columnar and equiaxed. The presence of both structures indicates the occurrence of the colunmar-to-equiaxed transition phenomenon[!].Studying the colunmar-to-equiaxed transition, CET, is of great technological interest for the evaluation and design of the mechanical properties of the solidification products. To this end it is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which it occurs. As found in previous studies [2-5], the CET occurs by competition between columnar and equiaxed growth. Mainly is controlled by the parameters of casting, such as the alloy composition, the density of the present nuclei in the liquid, the cooling capacity of the metal I mold, and the degree of convection in the liquid [7-10]."

Jan 1, 2014

By Tatiana Pereira Moreno, Priscilla Aki Mori de Hanashiro, Viviane Tavares de Moraes, Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Hugo Hashimoto

"Nowadays, End-of-Life (EoL) Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) are traditionally disposed in landfills. The increasing access to LCD technology over the last years by Brazilian consumers has intensified LCD' s disposal as an environmental and economic issue. This study aims to characterize used LCDs to identify the main components for recycling. Characterization was performed through scrap disassembly and its components were identified, separated, and weighted. LCDs were disassembled and the following divisions were applied: screen, metal frame, polymeric frame, polymeric sheets and electronic part. Some techniques were used to determine the concentration of Indium in the LCD, the glass/plastic ratio and the different kinds of polymers that compose the screen. The techniques used for characterization included inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). This method, when applied to a wide range of LCDs, can allow the development or improvement of an EoL management of LCD.IntroductionWaste Electrical Electronic Equipments (WEEEs) are waste from discarded equipment, such as computers, monitors and cellphones [1]. Over the past years, treatment of WEEE has been emphasized. It occurs due to the technology's advancement that leads to an even larger increase of WEEES [2].Among WEEEs, there are the liquid crystal displays (LCD). LCD technology is applied in cell phones, tablets, computers and monitors. Nowadays, it's the most well known technology when it refers to monitors, due to its advantages over the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology. Some of them are energy saving, smaller size and no radiation emission [3].This feature in the LCD's global market along with the speed at which electronic equipment becomes obsolete affects society economically and ambiently.This issue becomes even more serious when considering the final destination of the liquid crystal displays. LCDs are lead to landfills as other WEEEs. Besides the different materials long degradation time, the environment is damaged by the disposal of the potentially reusable and hazardous materials [ 4]."

Jan 1, 2014

By Xavier Kleber, Aude Lamontagne, Veronique Massardier, Daniele Mari

"The thermoelectric power (TEP) technique was used to determine with high accuracy the strain ageing kinetics in heavily cold drawn pearlitic steel. Because of the very high sensitivity of the TEP to solute atoms, this technique allowed the strain ageing to be followed from the very first moments. The kinetics were followed during isothermal ageings performed between 20°C and 200°C for different strains. In order to avoid any ageing at room temperature, the samples were kept at -80°C immediately after cold drawing. TEP evolution versus strain highlights cementite decomposition occurring during cold drawing. During the ageing, a redistribution of the dissolved carbon atoms in ferrite occurred. The TEP increase with the ageing time was attributed to the departure of carbon atoms from ferrite (segregation to dislocations and/or carbide precipitation). The kinetics were analysed using the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov approach which enabled to determine activation energies associated with carbon atoms redistribution.IntroductionHeavily cold drawn pearlitic steel wires are commonly used as structural materials for their high strength and their acceptable ductility. However, several previous studies highlight the microstructural destabilization of pearlite mainly due to cementite decomposition during the drawing process, which induces changes of mechanical properties [1, 2]. This phenomenon was detected by several experimental techniques such as Mossbauer spectroscopy [3, 4, 5], themomagnetic analyses [6, 7], TEM [8, 9, 10] or atom probe tomography [9, 10, 11]. Nevertheless, the mechanism of cementite decomposition is still unclear. Several hypotheses were proposed in the literature. The first hypothesis relies on a strong interaction energy between carbon atoms and dislocations involving higher binding energy than that between carbon atoms and iron atoms in cementite [3]. The second hypothesis is the increase of the free energy of the interface between cementite and ferrite due to the fragmentation of cementite during deformation (Gibbs-Thomson effect) [8]. Some authors even suggest that the dissolution of cementite occur during a post-deformation ageing [12, 13]. It is worth"

Jan 1, 2013

By Xuewei Lv, Maojun Zhou, Xiaobo Huang, Rende Zhang

"The characterization of the surface roughness of the mineral particles is of vital importance for the studies of the mineral processing. In this study, an evaluation of the roughness of the iron ore particles, with the measurements of size distribution and the measurements of specific surface area with the liquid nitrogen absorption, was developed. The main theory of this method is the fact that the roughness of the particle influences the specific surface area apparently. The specific surface area of the particles can be measured with the laser diffraction method and the liquid nitrogen absorption method. The influence of the surface roughness of the particle can be measured with the nitrogen absorption and cannot be measured with the laser diffraction. Therefore, the roughness can be got by comparing the specific surface area with two measurement methods.IntroductionThe characterization of the surface roughness of the mineral particles is of vital importance for the studies of the mineral processing. There are three main methods for measuring the size distribution of mineral particles: sieving, laser diffraction, and sedimentationl). Many techniques involve sedimentation such as the Horiba2, 3) and the Cyclo-sizer1). In the mineral industry, size distribution is usually determined by sieving because it can be carried out accurately for all particle sizes larger than 45 . The preferred method to obtain the size distribution of finer particles is laser diffractometry. The technique has several advantages: it produces measurements in a few minutes with considerably less labor compared with the cyclo-sizer and for a range of sizes considerably wider in comparison with the sedigraph4). The equivalent-sphere size distribution reported by laser diffractometry is valid for metallurgical calculations and can be routinely used in mineral processing plants. The surface area of the particles can be measured by the BET method of nitrogen adsorption, or it can be calculated from the size distribution. However, the latter calculation requires the size distribution to be accurately known across the whole size range, and assumptions have to be made about the shapes and surface roughness of the particles and presence or absence of pores (see below). The BET method is based on the physical adsorption of gas over the whole exposed surface area and measures the surface area stemming from the roughness and open pores on the surface of the particle5). The calculation of the surface area from the size distribution is usually based on the assumption that all the particles are smooth spheres, without considering the shape and/or roughness of the particles. Determining the surface roughness of the particle with these methods, is the objective of this study."

Jan 1, 2012