Ferrosilicon is a ferrosilicon alloy made of silicon and iron. We all know that ferrosilicon is a common deoxidizer in steel smelting, and its price is relatively low, so it is loved by many steelmaking manufacturers. The silicon in ferrosilicon has a good affinity with oxygen, and the impurities generated after deoxidation are also easy to remove, so it is an ideal deoxidizer product. We follow ferrosilicon manufacturers to see what effect silicon has on steel.
(1) The effect of silicon on the critical transition temperature and microstructure: Silicon can increase the critical transition temperature of steel during heating and cooling, and increase the thermal hysteresis effect. This is mainly because silicon does not form carbides in steel and does not dissolve much in cementite, so it only acts on ferrite.
(2) The effect of silicon on heat treatment: silicon can improve the annealing, normalizing and quenching temperatures of steel. In hypoeutectoid steel, when the silicon content is less than 2.5 %, the critical cooling rate decreases with the increase of silicon content, and the effect is more significant with the decrease of carbon content. When the carbon content of steel is 0.5% and silicon content is 1.2% ~ 2.0%, the parts with diameter of 25 ~ 30mm can be quenched in oil.
(3) The effect of silicon on mechanical properties: the effect of silicon solvable in ferrite and austenite on improving their hardness and strength is stronger than that of manganese, nickel, chromium, tungsten, molybdenum and vanadium in common elements. However, if the silicon content exceeds 3%, the ductility, toughness and ductility of steel will be significantly reduced.
Silicon is an element with a high content in the earth's crust. Silicon can improve the magnetic properties of steel. Silicon can increase the amount of silicon added to liquid steel when smelting special purpose steel. In the production of ferrosilicon, there should be strict standards for its quality and impurity content, so as to effectively improve the quality of ferrosilicon.
