Silicon Metal

Silicon Metal (Si Metal) also known as crystalline silicon or industrial silicon, is silver-grey crystalline, hard and brittle, has a high melting point, good heat resistance, high resistivity, and is highly antioxidant. The general particle size is 10~100mm, and it is mainly used as an additive for non-iron-based alloys. Metallic silicon is a product smelted from quartz and coke in an electric furnace. The main component Si content is about 98%, and the remaining impurities are Fe, Al, Ca, etc.

Silicon Metal Ingot

Metallic silicon is usually classified based on the content of three main impurities contained in metallic silicon: Fe, Al, and Ca.

Global silicon metal is widely used in electronics, optical fibre, solar energy products, construction, medical, chemical, mechanical and metallurgical, rubber and insulating materials, high temperature coatings and other industrial and civil applications.

Semiconductor Industry

Photovoltaic Industry

Organosilicon Industry

Construction Industry

Automobile Manufacturing Industry

Aerospace Industry

1. Silicon metal is one of the main raw materials for the manufacture of organosilicon.
2. Silicon metal can be configured with special-purpose silicon aluminium alloys, which can improve the strength, hardness and wear resistance of aluminium alloys.
3. Silicon metal is the basic raw material for producing high-purity crystalline silicon materials.
4. In the steelmaking industry, silicon metal is mainly used as a deoxidiser and alloy additive.
5. In the foundry industry, silicon metal is widely used as moulding material additives, metal melting additives, refining agents and dross removers to improve the strength and fluidity of moulding sand, improve the quality of castings and reduce the rate of casting defects. In addition, industrial silicon can also adjust the fluidity and purity of the metal melt.
At present, silicone, aluminium alloy and polysilicon for the global silicon metal main demand areas, of which silicone demand is the highest, followed by aluminium alloy, polysilicon third.

The main factors affecting the price of silicon metal are the cost of raw materials and the cost of electricity.
The production of 1 ton of silicon metal requires about 2.7-3 tons of silica, 2 tons of carbonaceous reductant, and 0.1-0.13 tons of electrodes, and the smelting process consumes about 11,000-13,000 kWh of electricity.

Si Metal price in 2023 -- Si 441 FOB Tianjin ($)

Si Metal price in 2023 -- Si 553 FOB Tianjin ($)

Si Metal price in 2023 -- Si 3303 FOB Tianjin ($)

Silicone metal is produced using the carbothermal method, which is a method of smelting silica and a carbonaceous reductant in a submerged arc furnace. The purity of the silicon thus produced is 97-98%, and it is generally used in metallurgy. If you want to get a higher grade of silicon, you need to melt it again after recrystallisation, with acid to remove impurities, to get the purity of 99.7-99.8% of the silicon metal.
At present, China's production of silicon metal production process route of carbon thermal method: silica and petroleum coke, charcoal, wood chips, low ash coal, etc. According to a certain ratio of weighing automatically added to the submerged arc furnace, the furnace charge is heated to more than 2,000 degrees Celsius, silica is carbonaceous reductant reduction of the generation of industrial silica liquids and carbon monoxide (CO) gas, CO gas escapes through the material layer. At the bottom of the molten silicon ladle, a mixture of oxygen and air is passed through to remove other impurities such as calcium and aluminium. The molten silicon ladle is transported to the casting room by means of a motorised ladle truck to be cast into silicon ingots. After cooling, the ingots are crushed, graded, weighed, packaged and put into storage to obtain finished silicon blocks. The flue gas enters the flue through the furnace hood and is processed by the air cooler and fan into the bag filter to remove dust and other environmental protection facilities, and then discharged to meet the national emission standards.

The world's major silicon metal producers are China, Brazil, the United States, Norway, France, Russia and Germany. As China has the advantage of low-cost silicon metal raw materials, global silicon metal production is mainly concentrated in China, and China's silicon metal production in 2022 accounts for 81.05% of global production, ranking first.
Silicon metal is located at the top of the silicon-based new materials industry chain and is the core raw material for photovoltaic, silicone, alloys and other important sectors of the national economy. With the continuous development of photovoltaic, new energy vehicles, electronic information and other industries in recent years, the world's demand for silicon metal has been growing, and China's silicon metal production has also been increasing.
China's silicon metal production capacity is mainly concentrated in Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces, mainly because enterprises are mostly concentrated in areas rich in raw materials for silicon metal or with lower electricity costs to save costs.
China is a major exporter of industrial silicon, as a major industrial silicon producer, China's industrial silicon exports are large and relatively stable. It is mainly exported to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, India, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia and other countries.

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