Rationalisation of iron ore mixtures for obtaining optimum quality sinters

Various iron ores, fluxes and coke, were used to prepare four ore mixtures with different proportions of these minerals. With each mixtures a series of sinters were produced in the pilot plant. Each one of the sinters was characterised by: chemical and granulometric analysis; degradation test on the sinter during reduction in the blast furnace, (RDI test); cold resistance test, (Tumbler Test); reducibility test; determining of softening and melting temperatures; and the determination of the structure of the sinter by electron microscopy. T he conditions of the mixtures and the operational parameters for obtaining the optimum quality of the sinters were established.