Dissolution Behavior of Indium in CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 Slag

Abstract

The solubility of indium in a molten CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 system was measured at 1773 K (1500 A degrees C) to establish the dissolution mechanism of indium under a highly reducing atmosphere. The solubility of indium increases with increasing oxygen potential, whereas it decreases with increased activity of basic oxide. Therefore, a dissolution mechanism of indium can be constructed according to the following equation: The relationship between indium capacity and sulfide capacity shows a good correlation that is consistent with theoretical expectations. The enthalpy change of the indium dissolution reaction is negative, which indicates that the dissolution is an exothermic reaction. The heat of dissolution into high-silica melts is greater than that into low-silica melts. The solubility of indium is strongly dependent on the silica content. The activity coefficient, and thus the excess free energy of In2O, decreases linearly with increasing silica content, indicating that the In2O is believed to behave as a weak basic oxide in the current CaO-SiO2-Al2O3 ternary system under reducing conditions.