Sintering Characteristic and Consolidation Behaviour of Chromite Fines

A study on sintering of chromite fines was conducted through sintering pot test. The effect of sintering parameters including mix moisture content, coke breeze rate, bentonite dosage and sintering suction was investigated. It was found that conventional sintering process can be applied to the agglomeration of chromite fines as well. Appropriate parameters for chromite fines sintering were 8.0% moisture, 7.0% coke breeze, 2.0% bentonite and 14 kPa sintering suction. Furthermore, the consolidation characteristic of chromite sinter was observed by using a microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). It can be found that the sinter mainly consisted of chromohercynite, forsterite and monticellite. Besides, the element distribution of Fe and Cr in chromohercynite was quite different. Fe mainly distributed on the outer layer while Cr distributed in the inner layer. The chromohercynite formed from liquid phase has higher Fe and Mg content.