What is ferrosilicon and what is the composition of ferrosilicon?

Ferrosilicon is a ferroalloy composed of ferro and silicon. Ferrosilicon is an ferro-silicon alloy made by smelting coke, steel shavings, and quartz (or silica) in an electric furnace.

Classification of ferrosilicon

According to the smelting method, ferrosilicon can be divided into four categories: high-silicon ferrosilicon, ordinary ferrosilicon, low-alumina ferrosilicon and high-purity ferrosilicon. High-purity ferrosilicon refers to ferrosilicon with low content of impurity elements produced by refining outside the furnace.

High-silicon ferrosilicon: ferrosilicon with a silicon content of more than 87%.

Ordinary ferrosilicon: 72# ferrosilicon, 75# ferrosilicon, and 65# ferrosilicon are the most widely used ferrosilicon. Other impurities in the alloy generally do not require too much ferrosilicon.

Low-aluminum ferrosilicon: In ferrosilicon alloy, the alloy made by adding a certain amount of aluminum element is also called silicon-aluminum ferrosilicon alloy, and the content of aluminum needs to be marked. For example, the grade is DL FeSi75Al0.8, which means low-aluminum ferrosilicon with an aluminum content of 0.8%.

High-purity ferrosilicon: It is a kind of ferrosilicon alloy with high requirements, with Si and Fe as effective elements and low content of other impurities. The controllable range of its impurity content is C0.05-0.003%, S0.01-0.002%, P<0.02%, V0.05-0.001%, B0.01-0.002%, Mn<0.10%, Mg0.05-0.005 %, Ti0.05-0.007%, Ca0.05-0.002%, Ca<0.05%, Cr<0.05%, Ni<0.05, Zr0.01-0.003, Al<0.1%, the sum of other impurities is less than 0.05%

The use of ferrosilicon

Ferrosilicon is an indispensable deoxidizer in the steelmaking industry;

High-silicon ferrosilicon or silicon alloys are used as reducing agents in the production of low-carbon alloys in the ferroalloy industry;

In the foundry industry, adding ferrosilicon to molten iron can prevent iron from forming carbides, promote graphite precipitation and spheroidization, and act as an inoculant and spheroidizer.

When ferrosilicon is used as a deoxidizer for steelmaking, since oxygen and silicon are extremely easy to react to synthesize silicon dioxide and release increased heat energy at the same time, it is also very beneficial to increase the temperature of molten steel.