Sintering, microstructure and mechanical properties of anorthite-based ceramics prepared from iron-extracted steel slag

Steel slag is a promising source of ceramic materials, but it causes a waste of iron resources and inferior ceramic performance because the slag contains over 30 % iron oxides. To deal with this problem, we proposed a two-step utilization process for steel slag, including iron extraction by smelting reduction and ceramics preparation from residual slag. In this work, the effect of the reduced slag addition on phase constituents, microstructure, and properties of this novel ceramic was studied. The major crystalline phase is anorthite for all the ceramics. Although abundant liquid is expected theoretically in conventional ceramics at 1175 °C, it did not achieve vitrification until 1250 °C. The slag addition plays different roles in sintering under various slag contents. After introducing 15 wt% slag, the sintering and pore elimination are accelerated significantly because of the slag’s fluxing effect although the ceramic shows no change in the theoretical liquid content. The ceramics have no advantage in producing liquids with further increasing the slag content. Therefore, limited densification is observed with 30 wt% slag addition owing to the lack of liquid phase. Fortunately, solid solution diopside is largely generated in the anorthite matrix with 45 wt% slag addition, greatly enhancing the ion diffusion and grain growth. This effect contributes to a highly dense and uniform sintered structure with small rounded pores at 1175 °C, at which its flexural strength increases by 92 % compared to the conventional ones. However, a higher slag addition in the ceramic should be avoided to ensure satisfactory structure integrity.