Effect of TiO2 Content on the Crystallization Behavior of Titanium-Bearing Blast Furnace Slag

The content of TiO2 has an important influence on both the basic structure and the crystallization behavior of titanium-bearing blast furnace (BF) slag. The results of thermodynamic calculations show that, when the mass content of TiO2 is smaller than 25%, CaTiO3 increases as the content of TiO2 increases. However, when the TiO2 content is more than 25%, the CaTiO3 content decreases and TiO2 gradually increases. The results of a confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) experiment show that, when the TiO2 mass content is 10%, Ca2MgSi2O7 and Ca2Al2SiO7 are the main crystallized phases resulting from the molten slag. Furthermore, when the TiO2 mass content is 20%, CaMgSi2O6, Ca(Ti,Mg,Al)(Si,Al)2O7 and dendrite CaTiO3 are the crystallized phases, while when the TiO2 mass content increases to 30%, CaTiO3 is the sole phase. The discrepancy between the CLSM results and the thermodynamic calculations occurs mainly due to the high melting point of the titanium-bearing BF slag. During the cooling process for the molten slag, CaTiO3 is crystallized first, due to its high crystallization temperature. Furthermore, the molten slag is solidified in its entirety before the other phases crystallize.