Thermodynamic Modeling of the Carbothermic Melting of a Complex Titanium-Containing Ferroalloy

The carbothermic production of a titanium-containing ferroalloy is subjected to thermodynamic modeling. The Ti–Al–Si–Fe–C–O system is studied using the HSC Chemistry software package. At a low quartzite content in a charge, stable carbide phases TiC and SiC are found to form and prevent metallic phase formation. An increase in the quartzite content to 10–15% is shown to suppresses carbide formation and to promote the formation of silicides TiSi, TiSi2, and Ti3Si3.