Solubility of nitrogen in CaO-SiO₂-CaF₂ slag system

Equilibrium experiments between gas and slag were carried out to understand the thermodynamic behaviour of nitrogen in the CaO-SiO₂-CaF₂ slag system at 1600°C. The solubility of nitrogen in this slag system increased as the oxygen potential decreased and as the reaction temperature increased. The values of the nitride capacity have a minimum at about 2.0 slag basicity, having higher values in both more acidic and basic regions. This may be explained by two mechanisms for nitrogen dissolution; incorporated nitride ion and free nitride ion state. In slag with 2.0 basicity or less, MgO content increased the nitride capacity slightly. At higher slag basicity, however, nitride capacity decreased with MgO content. The effects of BaO to substitute CaO on nitride capacity showed similar behaviour as MgO. This complex relationship between basicity of slag and nitride capacity is explained by using optical basicity. It was found that nitride capacity and optical basicity had a close relationship even in the different basic oxide systems.