Per: MARLLON FRAGA SILVA (IME - INSTITUTO MILI), Marvin do Nascimento (ime), Carlos Henrique da Luz Barbosa (ime), elson silva galvao (ufes), sergio neves monteiro (ime)
Abstract:
Granulated slag is a byproduct of the steelmaking process, resulting from the fusion of impurities in iron ore, together with fluxes (limestone and dolomite), and coke ash (mineral coal). In Brazil, the use of slag is practically restricted to the Portland cement industry, where it is employed as a clinker substitute. With the aim of evaluating the influence of grain shape on its reuse applications, this study shows that there is a correlation between the granulometry of granulated slag and grain morphology. To this end, twelve samples from three different blast furnaces were analyzed, with four from each blast furnace. A sieving process was conducted using eight sieves, with each retained size fraction separated for analysis. Five images of grains from each granulometric range were obtained, with sufficient resolution and contrast for image processing, thereby increasing the amount of information obtained in this analysis. From these data, it can be affirmed that sphericity factor varies according to particle size. Thus, it can be stated that granulometric separation affects grain morphology, qualifying the fractions of blast furnace granulated slag for other industrial demands and adding value to the product.