TY - JOUR A2 - Lee, Sunghak AU - Ghali, S. AU - Mousa, E. A. PY - 2015 DA - 2015/01/01 TI - Mathematical Analysis of the Effect of Iron and Silica on the Reduction Performance of Manganese Ores SP - 679306 VL - 2015 AB - In the current study, a factorial design is used to investigate the effect of total iron and silica on the metallurgical performance of different grades of manganese ores. The derived mathematical formulations are applied to estimate the reduction disintegration index (RDI+6.3, RDI+3.15, and RDI−0.5), reduction index (total reduction index (RIT), manganese reduction index (RIM), and iron reduction index (RIF)), and softening-melting property (start of softening (TS1), end of softening (TS2), start of melting (Tm1), and end of melting (Tm2)) of manganese ores. The RDI+6.3 and RDI+3.15 are increased with the individual effect of SiO2 and the interaction effect of iron with silica, while they are decreased as the total iron increased. The high-Fe high-SiO2 manganese ore showed the highest RIT and RIF. The RIM was almost identical in all manganese ores. The presence of high content of SiO2 resulted in a narrow softening range (62–83°C), while the high-Fe high-SiO2 manganese ore exhibited a wider softening range (135–140°C). The melting range was very small in high-Fe low-SiO2 (3–16°C) and high-Fe high-SiO2 (6–8°C) manganese ores, while the low-Fe low-SiO2 manganese ore showed wider melting range (72–74°C). The derived mathematical models are in a good agreement with the experimental results. The calculations are carried out using Matlab program. SN - 1687-9465 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/679306 DO - 10.1155/2015/679306 JF - Journal of Metallurgy PB - Hindawi Publishing Corporation KW - ER -