Acid-Insoluble Substances in Reduced Iron Powder from Ores

X-ray analysis on iron ores and reduced iron powders revealed that around 60% acidinsoluble substances were hexagonal and tetragonal quartz, another 40% substances were sillimanite, alumina-silicate, an unnamed zeolite, all contained Si and Al. SEM images displayed that the particle size of them was in the range of 3~7 μm, which may be the initial source of the cracking in the sintered body. Statistics analysis showed that the Acid-Insoluble Content (AIC) for high-grade magnetite powder was (0.130±0.010) % during the latest five months. The predicting value for reduced iron powder from ore powders should be 0.179 %. However, the testing value for reduced iron powder was (0.192±0.014) %. The limited difference of 0.013% might imply rare pollution coming from the reduction and milling processes. The most important step for control AIC should be the separation process of iron ore powders.