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What are you researching?
I am looking at the reaction mechanism for the pro-
duction of SiMn. The alloy is used as an important in-
gredient in steel production, and I am hoping to find a
way to describe the rate of the process. It is uncertain
how the reduction of MnO and SiO
2
occurs during the
high temperature process and the reaction mechanisms
of this process provide fundamental knowledge of the
overall process. If we find a way to model the rate, it may
lead to new strategies both when it comes to operation
and when it comes to the use of various raw materials.
The industry will thus be able to optimize the process
to a higher extent and with that save energy, time and
resources.
How are you performing your research?
I am doing this by studying the kinetics of the re-
action; how fast the alloy is produced from various
raw materials. For this work, I am using a TGA-type
(Thermogravimetric analysis) furnace, which measures
the weight of materials in experimental conditions. I am
focusing on temperatures above 1500 °C where the sig-
nificant metal producing reaction occurs.
What are your most important results so far?
Recently the rate models that I have considered seem
quite acceptable to describe the reduction of MnO and
SiO
2
in SiMn slags. The models are not complete and
require a few more adjustments but it looks good so far.
Tell us about an interesting result.
I have tried different SiMn slags to describe the reduc-
tion rates of MnO and SiO
2
. The figure below is one of
them: The experimental results (circles and triangles)
show good fitting to the calculated rate model results
(solid lines). In addition, I am expanding my work to see
if the rate models can also be applicable using different
heating rates.
PHD
PYUNGHWA KIM
35
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