Experimental studies of liquid/spinel/matte/gas equilibria in the Si-Fe-O-Cu-S system at controlled P(SO2) 0.3 and 0.6 atm

In the present study, the phase equilibria in the "FeO"-SiO2 system in equilibrium with matte at controlled P(SO2) 0.3 and 0.6 atm and fixed matte grade 72 wt% Cu were experimentally investigated. The high-temperature equilibration using primary phase material as the substrate, quenching and Electron Probe Micro-analysis (EPMA) were applied in the experiments where the P(O-2) and P(SO2) were accurately controlled by CO/CO2/SO2 gas mixtures. The correlations between oxygen partial pressure and the matte grade were determined at P(SO2) 0.3 and 0.6 atm to obtain the target matte grade in the samples. The liquidus temperatures of this "FeO"-SiO2 system in equilibrium with matte at controlled P(SO2) 0.3 and 0.6 atm and fixed matte grade 72 wt% Cu were also reported. The present experimental results were also compared with the FactSage predictions and show the differences. The present results are expected to be useful for the copper smelting operations and also provide reliable information for the thermodynamic database.