Abstract
Hematite iron ore and waste iron oxide sludge containing about 3-5 wt% $SiO_2$ were purified by three types of method developed on the basis of the Bayer process which is known as the purification process of bauxite ore. The basic principle of the developed methods lies in the fact that the impurities contained in the iron oxides, such as $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ are soluble in the alkaline reagents. Reaction of the raw materials with KOH was done in pressure vessel, at atmospheric pressure, and by both of these two. By the pressure vessel method $SiO_2$ content was reduced to below 0.5 wt% in the waste iron oxide sludge, while, in iron ore, $SiO_2$ remained at 2-3 wt%. The atmospheric pressure reaction rendered the waste iron oxide sludge $SiO_2$ content below 0.5wt% when the reaction temperature increased to above 90$0^{\circ}C$. The combined method of two previous methods was the most effective process and rendered the refined iron oxide about 300-400ppm of $SiO_2$. Using some refined iron oxides, Ba-ferrite was produced and magnetic properties were measured. The highest quality of magnetic properties obtained in this study were Br=2.09 G, bHc=1.99 KOe, iHc=4.54 KOe, $(BH)_{max}$=1.06 MGOe. Effect of sintering condition and chemical composition will be discussed.