ferroalloy

n.
Any of various alloys of iron and one or more other elements, such as manganese or silicon, used as a raw material in the production of steel.

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A member of an important group of metallic raw materials required for the steel industry. Ferroalloys are the principal source of such additions as silicon and manganese which are required for even the simplest plain-carbon steels; and chromium, vanadium, tungsten, titanium, and molybdenum, which are used in both low- and high-alloy steels. Ferroalloys are unique in that they are brittle and otherwise unsuited for any service application, but they are important as the most economical source of these elements for use in the manufacture of the engineering alloys. These same elements can also be obtained, at much greater cost in most cases, as essentially pure metals. The ferroalloys contain significant amounts of iron and usually have a lower melting range than the pure metals and are therefore dissolved by the molten steel more readily than the pure metal. In other cases, the other elements in the ferroalloy serve to protect the critical element against oxidation during solution and thereby give higher recoveries. Ferroalloys are used both as deoxidizers and as a specified addition to give particular properties to the steel. See also Steel.

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