Preparation and crystallization of glass–ceramics derived from iron-rich copper slag

• The glass–ceramics were prepared and the iron was recovered from copper slag.
• The crystallization of the glass takes place via surface crystallization mechanism.
• The crystal phases and crystallite size are affected by crystallization temperature.
• The optimal physical–chemical properties of glass–ceramics are achieved at 950 °C.

In this paper, the glass–ceramics were prepared and the iron was recovered from the iron-rich copper slag in the same process, which includes slag-melting, iron-glass separation and glass-crystallization. The results show that the iron was separated from copper slag and the residual slag was transformed into light-color glass–ceramics successfully. The crystallization kinetics, crystal phase and microstructure of glass–ceramics heated at different crystallization temperatures between 900 °C and 1100 °C were estimated by DSC, FTIR, XRD and SEM. It is found that the crystallization of the glass samples takes place via surface crystallization mechanism. The major crystalline phase is anorthite and the minor phases are quartz and diopside, the size of which increases with the rise in crystallization temperature. The optimal physical–chemical properties are achieved at 950 °C, with bulk density of 2.69 g/cm3, water absorption of 0.05% and porosity of 0.06%.

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