A high silicon master alloy used to make silicon steel and to add silicon to transformer iron and steel by melting quartz or silica in an electric furnace along with scrap iron and carbon. Available in various grades and containing 15-90% silicon. Silicon combines with iron, but alloys over about 30% of silicon are brittle and unstable. Silicon also causes carbon to precipitate in the form of graphite sheets, and alloys with high silicon content are called silicon metals.
Compared with adding aluminum alone, ferrosilicate aluminum containing 12-15% aluminum is a more effective steel reducing agent. It is also used to add silicon to cast aluminum alloys. The alloy acts as a reducing agent, melts slag, and can control the grain size of the steel.
