(1) It is used as deoxidizer and alloying agent in steelmaking industry. In order to obtain steel with qualified chemical
composition and ensure the quality of steel, deoxidation must be carried out in the final stage of steelmaking. The chemical
affinity between silicon and oxygen is very large, so ferrosilicon is a strong deoxidizer for precipitation and diffusion
deoxidation. Adding a certain amount of silicon to the steel can significantly improve the strength, hardness and elasticity of
the steel. Therefore, ferrosilicon is also used as alloying agent when smelting structural steel (silicon 0.40-1.75%), tool steel
(silicon 0.30-1.8%), spring steel (silicon 0.40-2.8%) and transformer silicon steel (silicon 2.81-4.8%). At the same time, it is
an effective new technology to improve steel quality, reduce cost and save iron by improving inclusion morphology and reducing gas
element content in liquid steel. It is especially suitable for deoxidation of continuous casting molten steel. Practice has proved
that ferrosilicon not only meets deoxidation requirements of steelmaking, but also has desulfurization performance, and has the
advantages of large ratio and strong penetration.In addition, in the steel-making industry, ferrosilicon powder is often used as
heating agent of ingot cap to improve the quality and recovery rate of ingot, because it can release a lot of heat at high
temperature. (2) It is used as inoculant and nodularizing agent in cast iron industry. Cast iron is an important metal material in
modern industry. It is cheaper than steel, easy to melt and smelt, and has excellent casting performance and much better seismic
capacity than steel. In particular, the mechanical properties of ductile iron reach or approach the mechanical properties of
steel. Adding a certain amount of ferrosilicon to cast iron can prevent the formation of carbide in iron and promote the
precipitation and spheroidization of graphite. Therefore, in the production of ductile iron, ferrosilicon is an important
inoculant (helping to precipitate graphite) and spheroidizing agent. (3) It is used as reducing agent in ferroalloy production.
Not only the chemical affinity between silicon and oxygen is very high, but also the carbon content of high silicon ferrosilicon
is very low. Therefore, high silicon ferrosilicon (or siliceous alloy) is a reducing agent commonly used in the production of low
carbon ferroalloy in ferroalloy industry. (4) 75 ferrosilicon is often used in the high-temperature smelting process of metallic
magnesium in the process of magnesium smelting by Pijiang process. Replacing the magnesium in cao.mgo will consume about 1.2 tons
of ferrosilicon for each ton of metallic magnesium production, which plays a great role in the production of metallic magnesium.
(5) Other uses. The ground or atomized ferrosilicon powder can be used as suspended phase in mineral processing industry. It can
be used as coating for welding rod in welding rod manufacturing industry. High silicon ferrosilicon can be used in chemical
industry to produce silicone and other products.
