Equilibrating partition ratios of Nb, Mn and Si between liquid iron and MgO-SiO2-MnO slag melts

Liquid iron containing Nb, Mn and Si has been equilibrated with MgO-SiO2-MnO slag melts at 1600°C in a Mo wire wound resistance furnace with a duration of 4 hours. The oxygen activities in liquid iron were measured with oxygen sensors. Using the known equilibrium constants of the reactions and the oxygen activities in liquid iron, the component activities in the slag melts can be calculated. It was found that the partition ratios of Nb, Mn and Si have a close linear relationship with aFeO in a logarithmic scale. The dependence of Nb partition ratio on mole fractions of the slag components was also obtained.