An original direction is currently developed in Russia, based on transformation of solid pig iron into new composite material called sintikom. The new material is cheaper than pig iron, and its cost reduces in proportion to increase of filler’s share. The filler's cost is approximately 20% of pig iron's cost. It is ecologically clean, generates no dispersal dust wastes, fire and blowup safe and requires no special measures for storage and transportation.
The usage of sintikom provides new opportunities to improve steel making process and quality of steel. The composition of sintikom is specially adjusted to particular steelmaking process and steel grade. It’s effective to reach the strictest tolerances for chemical composition and mechanical properties of steel, including IF class steels, providing minimal content of micro admixtures as Cu, Sn, etc.
Among other tasks solved by application of sintikom are:
1. Intensifying and control of de carbonization process at the final stage of blowing; transfer carbon oxidation process into volumetric de carbonization regime; avoiding over oxidation of metal and slag.
2. In depth mixing, averaging temperature and composition of the melt after finishing of blowing by monoxide carbon, which appears in sintikom as a result of oxidizing reaction, which allows to exclude bottom blowing off partly or completely.
3. Intensifying slag forming processes and refining metal by use of special grades of sintikom containing additional reagents fluorides and oxides of alkaline metals, manganese oxides and flux complexes.
4. Grater power efficiency of steelmaking process in account of usage of monoxide carbon emitted in large quantities while oxidation reaction in sintikom, more complete afterburning of CO to CO2 and more effective transfer of afterburning energy to heated furnace charge.
Sintikom is classified as preliminary prepared material of composite type. It consists of metallic basis pig iron, and cheap filler ferric oxides, carbon containing materials, deoxidizers, slag forming materials. To create the material a team of scientists of Intermet Service Company led by G Dorofeev worked merely 10 years. The material and technology of its production and application is patented in Russia and 30 countries. Sintikom is a registered trade mark in Russia and USA.
The technology of sintikom production and usage is already mastered at Tulachermet, Severstal and Chusov Steel Works. Some tests of sintikom are made in Belarus, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Spain and US. American steelmakers confirmed that today sintikom surpasses any other furnace charge materials.
(Sourced from www.rusmet.ru)
