Iron and steel refer to steel and pig iron, both of which are alloys with iron and carbon as the main elements. Iron and steel are the most widely used metal materials in industry. When vanadium is added to steel, it has a strong affinity with carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen and can generate stable compounds with these elements. Vanadium mainly exists as its carbide in steel, where its main role is to refine the structure and grains of the steel, which reduces its sensitivity to overheating, and increases its strength and toughness.
During the heat treatment of steel, the compounds produced by vanadium, carbon, and nitrogen in the steel can strongly prevent the grains from growing, resulting in hot-processed steel with a fine structure at room temperature, high strength, and good plasticity and toughness. When austenite is dissolved at high temperature, the hardenability can be increased. Conversely, in the presence of carbides, the hardenability is reduced. Vanadium increases the tempering stability of quenched steel and produces a secondary hardening effect. Vanadium can refine the grains, increase the strength and yield ratio and low-temperature toughness after normalizing, and improve the welding performance of ordinary low-alloy steel.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd (LON:FAR) is developing the giant Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Kyzylordinskaya oblast of southern Kazakhstan. The ore at this deposit is unlike that of nearly all other primary vanadium deposits and is capable of being treated by a much lower cost process.
