Application of Caustic Soda Flakes NaOH in the Metallurgical Industry

  Caustic soda, or solid sodium hydroxide (NaOH), is indispensable in the metallurgical industry. As an important chemical raw material, it is key to the smelting, refining, and processing of metals.

  Caustic soda flakes can be used in the metallurgical industry because caustic soda flakes can convert the active ingredients in the ore into soluble sodium salts, in order to remove insoluble impurities from the ore. Caustic soda tablets act as an aid to dissolution and are called co-solvents, although caustic soda is sometimes used. For example, when training tungsten, it is necessary first to roast concentrate and soda ash into soluble sodium tungstate, and then through the process of acid extraction, dehydration, alkali recovery, and finally to get powdered tungsten.

1. Smelting flux

In metallurgy, metal ores need to be smelted at high temperatures before they can be converted into metals. In this process, caustic soda is used as a flux to lower the melting point of the ore, making the smelting process more efficient.

2. Refine metal

Caustic soda tablets also play an important role in the metal refining process. As a strong alkaline medium, it can remove oxides, sulfides and other impurities on the surface of the metal and improve the purity and quality of the metal. For example, in the refining process of copper, caustic soda is used as a reducing agent to reduce the oxides in copper to metallic copper, thereby increasing the purity of copper.

3. Electrolytic aluminum production

Electrolytic aluminum is one of the important production methods in modern aluminum industry. In this process, the alkali tablets are used as electrolytes to help the current pass through the aluminum liquid and break down the aluminum and oxygen.

4. Desulfurizer

In the process of steelmaking and antimony smelting, sulfur is a harmful element that needs to be strictly controlled. The presence of sulfur will reduce the performance of steel and affect the quality of products. Therefore, it is necessary to use desulfurizer to reduce the sulfur content in the smelting process. As an effective desulfurizer, caustic soda can react with sulfur and form sulfide which can be easily removed.

5. Clean the metal surface

In the metallurgical industry, metal surfaces are often covered with oxides, oil, and other impurities. These impurities can affect the performance and service life of the metal. Therefore, the metal surface needs to be cleaned before processing. Caustic soda has good cleaning ability, can react with the dirt on the surface of the metal and generate salt compounds that are easily dissolved. Then rinse it off with water. This method is suitable for cleaning stainless steel, iron, copper and other metal surfaces.