Ferrosilicon is an iron alloy composed of iron and silicon. Ferrosilicon is an iron-silicon alloy made by smelting coke, steel chips, quartz (or silica) in electric furnace. Ferrosilicon is often used as deoxidizer in steelmaking, and can also be used as alloying element additive in low-alloy structural steel, spring steel, bearing steel, heat-resistant steel and electrical silicon steel.
Ferrosilicon is an essential deoxidizer in the steelmaking industry. In torch steel, ferrosilicon is used for precipitation deoxidization and diffusion deoxidization. Brick iron is also used in steelmaking as an alloying agent. Adding a certain amount of silicon to steel can significantly improve the strength, hardness and elasticity of steel, improve the permeability of steel and reduce the hysteresis loss of transformer steel. General steel contains 0.15% - 0.35% silicon, structural steel 0.40% - 1.75% silicon, tool steel 0.30% - 1.80% silicon, spring steel 0.40% - 2.80% silicon, stainless acid resistant steel 3.40% - 4.00% silicon, heat resistant steel 1.00% - 3.00% silicon, silicon steel 2% - 3% or more silicon.
