China Nonferrous Metallurgy

ZnO-FeO-SiO₂-CaO-Al₂O₃ is an important slag system in the lead and zinc pyrometallurgy process, and the study of the viscosity of ZnO-FeO-SiO₂-CaO-Al₂O₃ slag system with high zinc oxide content could provide theoretical support for the design of lead and zinc oxide slag. The viscosity of ZnO-FeO-SiO₂-CaO-Al₂O₃ slag system with different compositions was measured by the rotating cylinder method involving a spindle. The structure of high temperature quenched slag was determined by Fourier infrared spectrometer, and the apparent activation energy of different slags was calculated. The results show that the initial increase of ZnO content (16%~32%) could reduce the viscosity of ZnO-FeO-SiO₂-CaO-Al₂O₃ and further increase of ZnO content would greatly increase the viscosity. When the content of ZnO was 36% and experimental temperature was higher than 1623K, the increase of Fe/SiO2 and CaO/SiO₂ could reduce the slag viscosity, however, the increase of Fe/SiO₂ and CaO/SiO₂ would significantly increase the slag viscosity as the decrease of experimental temperature.