Abstract
An equilibrium study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the CaO/SiO2 and Fe/SiO2 ratios and the SnO and Al2O3 contents of slags on the distribution of Fe and Sn between slag and metal in tin smelting. The experiments were performed at 1200 °C by equilibrating Sn-Fe alloys with silicate slags under reducing conditions in closed crucibles. The slag and metal analyses were used to calculate the γSnO/γFeO ratio in the slags and a multiple-linear regression on these values indicated that, in the range of slag compositions investigated, γSnO/γFeO is a function only of the CaO/SiO2 ratio. At 1200 °C, γSnO/γFeO varies from about 1.1 for CaO-free slags to 3.6 for slags in which the CaO/SiO2 ratio is 1.0. In practical applications, the slag-metal equilibrium in tin smelting is usually discussed in terms of the variation of the distribution coefficient,k, with the Fe content of the metal, wherek is defined ask = [pct Sn]/[pct Fe] · (pct Fe)/(pct Sn). An equation fork was derived in terms of the atom fraction of iron in the metal, the γSnO/γFeO in the slag, and the temperature. This equation was used to construct graphs ofk as a function of the iron content over the slag compositions and at temperatures which cover the range of tin smelting practice.
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Rankin, W.J. The slag-metal equilibrium in tin smelting. Metall Trans B 17, 61–68 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02670819
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02670819