8th International Congress on Science and Technology of Ironmaking - ICSTI 2018

The qualities of iron ores have been deteriorating, which has influenced sinter quality and productivity adversely. In the sintering process, iron ore fines, fluxes such as limestone and coke breeze, are granulated, then charged and fired in a sinter machine. Sinter quality and productivity are strongly affected by the formation of initial sinter melt, assimilation and penetration into nucleus particles by the initial melt, and solidification of sinter melt. Especially, the assimilation degree and penetration depth depend on the characteristics of individual ores. However, the effect of ore mineralogy on these sintering reactions has not yet een studied in details. In this study, a simple evaluation method was proposed using mini-tablets consisting of coarse particles from various iron ore fines as nucleus particles and chemical reagents or iron ore fines as matrix forming materials. Iron ores were selected to represent various textures ranging from dense to porous ore types from Australia and Brazil. Tablets were fired under simulated sintering conditions to investigate the penetration and assimilation behavior of different ore types. The assimilation and pore structure of resultant analogue sinters was also evaluated and the role of ore mineralogical texture was further discussed.