Ferrosilicon Fun

[Ferrosilicon Fun]

I am a newbie and I am not really into forging!

So why am I here, you may ask. I would bet money that you folks have an overlap in talent and knowledge that could help me with my project.

I am going to make a facility to produce alloys, not high tech new stuff, but old school, plain Jane alloys such as ferrosilicon.

Ideally I would hookup with someone in my vicinity interested in working with me.

Someone near Torrance or San Pedro in Southern California.

Please contact me if your or friends might be interested

Bill

[Frosty]

Welcome aboard Bill, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many of the IFI gang live within visiting distance.

There are at least two other young men posting here right now who are intent of reinventing the wheel. Just calling wrought iron Ferrosilicon is evidence enough of a college kid who's thinking he's onto something new.

How plain jane old school do you want to get? How old school do you think California codes will let you operate?

What methods are you thinking of using? What kind of ore and where are you going to get it?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Stefflus]

Frosty I have a feeling he's actually meaning to make Ferrosilicon, not Wrought.

I used to work in a FeSi plant, and a FeCr+FeMn plant, and I can't fathom how anyone would want to do that for fun
Well ok, making granulated FeSi is kind of fun the few times there's a real big steam explosion.
The smallest furnace I've seen is a 1MW research one, which they stopped and cooled to study evidence of differing zones. Is this somewhat the plan?
If not, what is this project? It's a rather strange project since it's so heavily studied already, unless you have a revolutionary new take on the process.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Stefflus

[Frosty]

I may have misunderstood Stefflus. I've only heard the term a couple times and then they were talking about wrought iron or more probably had no idea what they were talking about. I should've Googled it earlier, now I'm wondering why in the world someone would want to make it. Unless of course they're starting up a high end alloy production facility or lab?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Ferrosilicon Fun]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback and Q's.

Frosty, you raise many great issues.

Stefflus, can I pick you brain sometime with a phone call? I think there will be too much back and forth to do it in a forum.

You can PM me information.

I am a late person and live in the PSD time slot.

Thanks!!!

[Stefflus]

If this is some alltogether new, revolutionary process, then I think you already know way more than me.
If you mean to go by it the conventional way, then there's a limit to how much I can say without getting into trade secrets.
I can say this, however;
If you are entering the high purity market, you'll need a supply of very clean quartz, which is really only found in the mediterranean in appreciable amounts. For small projects it might be found scattered all over in veins.
If you are entering the normal market, it is highly competitive and the prizes are low.
Compared to the other alloys I mentioned this process gives a very low yield, as quite a lot of the "ore" escapes the furnace as microsilica dust (which is a valuable product by itself). Because of this and other peculiarities it is of the more difficult to tap. It devours any steel it touches in an instant, making lancing arduous.
Also, don't get it wet in a space with insufficient ventilation (such as in a boat hull). Boat crews have perished from the phosphine gas it emits when wet (at least the normal purity stuff).

[ThomasPowers]

How much you intend to make is also a key data point; big difference between hobby amounts and commodity amounts.  I would suggest contacting local Universities with a good MatSci department and find what the state of the art is and if the university has been around long enough their library may have the old journals on how it used to be done.