Laboratory-scale carbon anodes were produced by a new method of high temperature mould pressing, and their physico-chemical properties were studied. The influence of mould pressing conditions and coal pitch addition on the bulk density, crushing strength, and oxidation resistance was analyzed. The mierostructure of carbon anodes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and the mechanism of producing carbon anodes by high-temperature mould pressing was analyzed. The results show that when the anodes are produced by high-temperature mould pressing, coal pitch can expand into the coke particles and fill the pores inside the particles, which is beneficial for improving the quality of prebaked anodes. The bulk density of carbon anodes is 1.64-1.66 g/cm3, which is 0.08-0.12 g/cm3 higher than that of industrial anodes, and the oxidation resistance of carbon anodes is also significantly improved.
The vacuum aluminothermic reduction of the mixture of calcined magnesite and calcined dolomite was studied. An isothermal reduction method satisfying the vacuum aluminothermic reduction was proposed. The experiments were carried out at 4 Pa. The results indicate that the reduction rate is increased with increasing temperature, content of aluminum and pellet forming pressure. The XRD patterns of pellets at different reduction stages confirm that the reduction process can be roughly classified into three stages：the formation of MgAl2O4, and Ca12Al14O33 phases;the phase transformation from MgAl2O4 and C12A7 to CaAl2O4;the formation of CaAl4O7 phase. The experimental data were divided into three parts according to the kinetic models. The apparent activation energies of the three parts were determined to be 98.2, 133.0 and 223.3 kJ/mol, respectively.
