HOMOGENEOUS NUCLEATION DURING REDUCTION IN MULTICOMPONENT SYSTEMS

A mathematical model is considered and equations are obtained for esti mating the parameters of critical reduction-product nuclei in multicom ponent systems. For the Fe-O-Si system, it is shown that the nuclei ar e of complex composition, in the form of solutions of SiO2 and FeO, wi th sharp reduction in the cationic proportion of FeO from 0.48 to 0.06 ; this leads to anomalous reduction in the rate of steady nucleation ( by 36 orders of magnitude) in the interval [Si] = 0.004-0.006% (when [ O] = 0.2% at 1600 degrees C).