Nitriding modes for ferrosilicon grains to improve their corrosion resistance in float-and-sink separation of diamond-bearing raw materials

Artificial ferrosilicon alloys with the silicon content from 0 to 100% were tested to evaluate efficiency of their nitriding owing to creation of a nitride coating with an optimized thickness which ensures corrosion resistance in contact with mineralized water systems. Using samples of ferrosilicon powders involved in float-and-sink separation at concentration factories of ALROSA, the optimized mode of thermal treatment is found for ferrosilicon grains so that to ensure the optimized thickness of the nitride coating under conditions of industrial nitriding. The package of experimental studies using the optical spectroscopy and JAMP-9500F Field Emission Auger Microprober including a hemispherical analyzer and an electron gun for the high-performance analysis of nanoand micro-range chemical bonds prove the efficiency of the found mode for thermal treatment of ferrosilicon powder, namely: temperature –1000 °С, cure time –2 h, nitrogen pressure – 1.25 atm. This mode enables coating ferrosilicon grains with a nitride layer from 30 to 60 nm, with a steady thickness and spread, and with the constant chemical composition and properties, which ensures 2.7 times reduction of corrosion rate of ferrosilicon in interaction with the corrosive water systems in float-and-sink separation of diamond-bearing raw materials at concentration factories of ALROSA.

Dvoichenkova G. P., Timofeev A. S., Kirsankin A. A. Nitriding modes for ferrosilicon grains to improve their corrosion resistance in float-and-sink separation of diamondbearing raw materials. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2023;(7):96-113. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/ 0236_1493_2023_7_0_96.

G.P. Dvoychenkova¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, Chief Researcher; Professor, Polytechnic Institute (branch), M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, 678170, Mirny, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, e-mail: dvoigp@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0940-3880,
A.S. Timofeev¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Senior Researcher, e-mail: Timofeev_ac@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3382-6007,
A.A. Kirsankin, Cand. Sci. (Phys. Mathem.), Senior Researcher, A.A. Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of Russian Academy of Sciences, 119334, Moscow, Russia, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9206-7805,
¹ Institute of Problems of Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources of Russian Academy of Sciences, 111020, Moscow, Russia.

A.S. Timofeev, e-mail: Timofeev_ac@mail.ru.

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