What are the main uses of metallurgical-grade silicon?

• Deoxidizers: During steel smelting, oxygen in molten steel can reduce steel quality. Metallurgical-grade silicon has strong oxygen-binding capabilities, effectively removing oxygen from molten steel to form silica slag for removal, thereby enhancing steel purity and mechanical properties.
• Alloy Additives: Adding silicon during steelmaking forms silicon steel, which has high magnetic permeability and is a key material for manufacturing transformer cores, motor cores, and other electrical equipment, reducing energy loss. Adding silicon to cast iron improves its fluidity and wear resistance.

In aluminum alloys, silicon is one of the primary alloying elements.

• Improving casting performance: Silicon lowers the melting point of aluminum alloys, improving their flowability and making it easier to cast complex-shaped parts.
• Enhancing mechanical properties: Silicon particles in aluminum alloys act as strengthening phases, increasing the alloy's hardness and wear resistance while maintaining a lightweight profile, making them suitable for aerospace, aviation, and automotive lightweight applications.

• Metallurgical-grade silicon can be further purified to produce high-purity industrial silicon, which is used in the production of organic silicon monomers.
• Organic silicon monomers are the basic raw materials for synthesizing silicone rubber, silicone oil, silicone resin, and other materials, which have the characteristics of high temperature resistance, low temperature resistance, good electrical insulation, and strong chemical stability.

• Silicides: Metallurgical-grade silicon can react with metals to form silicides, such as ferrosilicon, silicomanganese, and silicoaluminum alloys. These silicides are used as additives in the metallurgical and chemical industries.
• Silicon-based chemicals: Silicon reacts with halogens (such as chlorine and fluorine) to form compounds like silicon tetrachloride and silicon trifluoride. These compounds are used in the production of optical fiber preforms, semiconductor etching agents, and other products.