Analysis on the microstructure characteristics of steel-slag based Ceramics

As by-product of steeling making, steel slag accounts for 10% to 13% of steel production. Utilization of it as resource has been tried in many fields. For example, it can be used as building materials, most for paving and backfilling. However, utilization level of steel slag is still low, and to find a novel way to utilize steel slag efficiently is urgent. Steel slag includes much calcium and silicon, similar to those of clay, which means that it can be one of the raw materials for ceramic sintering. In this research, the process of steel-slag based ceramics sintering was developed. The ceramic tiles with excellent performance were obtained, with up to 36% steel slag added. By EPMA, the possible crystal phases that exist in the ceramic samples have been discussed. By XRD analysis, the main crystal phases of steel slag ceramics were identified, which are anorthite, alpha-quartz and magnetite. The clinoenstatite can be obtained through increasing the proportion of steel slag in the formula. The diopside can be obtained if the talc was added. These are key factors to obtain excellent performance ceramic tiles under low sintering temperature.