Ferro molybdenum is an important
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
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molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
metal
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
, with a molybdenum content of 60–75%
It is the main source for molybdenum alloying of
HSLA steel.
Production
The alloy is produced by heating a mixture of
molybdenum(VI) oxide MoO
3,
aluminium
Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
, and iron.
The oxide and the aluminium combine via an
aluminothermic reaction
Aluminothermic reactions are exothermic reaction, exothermic chemical reactions using aluminium as the reducing agent at high temperature. The process is industrially useful for production of alloys of iron. The most prominent example is the the ...
to give molybdenum in situ. The ferromolybdenum can be purified by
electron beam melting or used as it is. For alloying with steel the ferromolybdenum is added to molten steel before casting.
References
External links
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Ferroalloys
Molybdenum
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