Study of the Viscosity of a La2O3-SiO2-FeO Slag System

Abstract

The viscosity and break temperature of La2O3–SiO2-FeO slag was investigated to develop low-Al2O3 or Al2O3-free slag for the effective recovery of rare-earth metals. When La2O3 content is fixed (45, 50 and 55 mass%), the viscosity and break temperature of La2O3–SiO2-FeO slag decrease with an increase in FeO content and a decrease in SiO2 content. A higher La2O3 content in the La2O3-SiO2-FeO ternary slag yields a lower slag viscosity but a higher break temperature. Individual minor components of Al2O3, MnO and B2O3 does not affect, or decreases slightly the viscosity of La2O3–SiO2-FeO slag, whereas the slag break temperature is reduced so that the reduction ability order is ranked as B2O3 > Al2O3 > MnO. A small amount of two components Al2O3 + MnO and Al2O3 + B2O3 has little effect on the viscosity of the slag but it has an additive effect on the slag break-temperature reduction.

Keywords

• waste rare earth materials
• rare earth recovery
• break temperature
• la2o3-sio2-feo slag system