Physico-chemical fundamentals alumothermal process smelting ferro tungsten alloys, molybdenum, vanadium end etc. under pressure

Abstract

The paper describes analysis of the metal reduction macrokinetics in a moving SHS-wave. The necessity of improving the out-of-furnace production of W, Mo, V, Ni, Ti ferroalloys and other metals by application of pressure and centrifugal force. Efficiency of the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) carried out in the commercial vertical furnaces is restricted by the furnace height designed for reduced metal containing concentrates with a certain concentration range. Specifications related to the ferroalloys production under 10-12 atm pressure are provided. It has been found that under the SHS-reactor rotation effect the kinetic auto-accelerated high-temperature adiabatic wave (KAHAW) is formed in the horizontal plane around the perpendicular axis. Auto-acceleration is caused by the ignition phenomenon occurring ahead of the SHS wave. The centrifugal way of the SHS-process allows to: 1) process depleted and substandard concentrates of the mentioned metals; 2) establish out-of-furnace continuous process of the ferroalloy production with metal and slag separation; and 3) apply a newly developed KAHAW mode technology to launch highly endothermic chemical processes and produe new materials. There has been executed documentation for the full-scale fabrication of the first commercial model of the reactor for continuous out-of-furnace production of ferroalloys and some alloyed steels and ad-dition alloys.