Material and feedstock form
Which form is being purchased — lump, sinter, pellets, fines — and the grade band you are specifying, so the requirement attaches to the right object.
Iron ore standards
ISO 4696: asking the burden question by its right name
The question this test answers is narrow and specific: when a lump, sinter or pellet burden is reduced at low temperature, does it stay intact or does it break down into fines? That is a burden-behaviour question asked from the furnace side, and it is not the same as asking how much the ore reduced, how far it metallized, or what its iron content is. The most expensive mistake is ordering it by the wrong name — a feedstock whose real problem is shaft reduction behaviour needs a different method entirely.
Four questions that get ordered under the wrong standard
- Burden integrity
- Does the charge stay intact as it reduces, or break down into fines? This is the subject of this method.
- Extent of reduction
- How far the iron reduced, or how much metal was yielded. A different property, from a different determination.
- Route behaviour
- How the material behaves in a shaft reduction unit. Its own standard, written around that process.
- Chemical content
- Iron content and the other chemical figures. Established separately, on a prepared test portion.
Method scope
A physical behaviour measured while reduction is happening
The determination sits at the meeting point of two things that are usually studied separately: what the charge is made of, and what happens to its structure as it is worked on. Keeping those apart is what makes the result usable.
It describes
- How a sized charge of coarse burden holds together during low-temperature reduction.
- The generation of fine material as the charge is reduced.
- Behaviour of the burden as a whole, under a defined test condition.
It does not describe
- How far the material reduced, or its degree of metallization.
- Its iron content or any other chemical figure.
- How it behaves in a shaft reduction unit rather than a blast-furnace burden.
- Whether any measured behaviour is acceptable for a particular plant.
A burden that generates fines during reduction and a burden that reduces slowly are two different problems, and they are watched for different reasons. This method speaks to the first. Ordering it to answer the second is how a specification ends up with a figure that does not address the concern that prompted it.
Decision aid
State the feedstock and the question, and see where it belongs
Most misordered results come from attaching a test to the wrong question. Answer the two prompts below and the tool reports whether the question sits inside this method's scope — including the cases where it belongs to a neighbouring determination entirely.
The tool places the question. It publishes no index value, no acceptance limit and no test parameter, because those depend on the material, the Part of the series and the receiving plant's own basis.
Two answers are needed before this can be placed
Awaiting inputA reduction test is attached to a feedstock form and to a question about it. Until both are stated there is nothing to place, so no reading is offered.
The series
The Part and the test condition are not a detail on the order
The standard is published in Parts, and the Parts differ in the test condition they apply. Two laboratories can both report a reduction-disintegration result under the same parent number while having run the charge under different conditions — and those results are not interchangeable.
Why the test condition matters as much as the method
The behaviour of a burden under reduction depends on the conditions it is subjected to. A result is therefore only meaningful alongside the condition it was obtained under, which is why the Part that fixes that condition has to be named.
This is a commercial problem before it is a technical one. A specification clause or an offer that cites only the parent number has not fixed what was measured, and two parties can disagree about a result without either of them having made an error.
The neighbouring standard that gets confused with this one
Shaft direct-reduction behaviour has its own standard, written around that process rather than around a blast-furnace burden. The two are ordered from different departments for different plants, and the names are close enough that they get swapped.
If your question is what happens inside a shaft reduction unit, this is not the method that answers it. If your question is how a blast-furnace burden holds together as it reduces, the shaft standard is not the one to cite. Getting this wrong produces a correct result to a question nobody asked.
ISO 4696-1
Part 1 of the series · check the edition and current status at iso.org
ISO 4696-2
Part 2 of the series · check the edition and current status at iso.org
ISO 11257
The shaft direct-reduction standard — a different process and a different scope
Confirm the current edition and status of each Part with the publisher before relying on it. A method reference carried forward from an older contract is not automatically the same basis today.
At the furnace
Why a plant watches burden integrity rather than only chemistry
A burden can meet its chemical specification and still cause problems in the stack. That gap is the reason a physical behaviour test is commissioned alongside the assay, and it is the furnace side of the question this method speaks to.
Fines change how the stack breathes
A charge that disintegrates during reduction produces fine material where the burden needed to stay open. Gas flow through the stack depends on the burden keeping its structure, so the breakdown of a charge is a permeability concern rather than a chemistry one.
It compounds along the way
Material does not arrive at the stockhouse in the condition it left the point of production. Handling, transport, stockpiling and reclaiming each take their toll, and a charge that has already generated fines before it is charged has less structure left to lose.
It is a property of the material, not of the grade
Two ores at the same iron content can behave differently under reduction. A grade band describes the chemistry; it does not describe how the burden holds together. That is why the two figures are specified separately and neither substitutes for the other.
This page publishes no index value, no acceptance threshold and no test result for any material, and nothing here should be read as a limit your plant ought to apply. Acceptance follows from your specification and your operating conditions.
Evidence
The fields that make a burden result comparable
A bare number cannot be placed beside another laboratory's number and cannot be tied to a material. These are the fields that turn it into a result — and the ones usually missing when two defensible reports disagree.
| Field | Why the result is not comparable without it |
|---|---|
| The Part of the series applied | The parent number does not identify the procedure. Without the Part, a second laboratory cannot repeat what was done. |
| The test condition | The behaviour reported depends on the condition the charge was subjected to. A result without its condition describes a situation that cannot be re-created. |
| The feedstock the charge represents | Lump, sinter and pellet materials behave differently. A result must be attached to the material it actually describes. |
| The size fraction the charge was drawn from | The charge is drawn against a fraction. A figure reported without one may describe a different portion of the size range than the figure it is being compared with. |
| The sampling and preparation basis | The result is only as representative as the sample the charge came from. Ask how it was drawn from the lot and how it was prepared. |
| The edition, and the issuing party | Procedures are not frozen across editions, and a report is only queryable if the party that signed it is named. |
Commercial
What the commercial desk needs before it can answer
A burden-behaviour requirement is one input to an enquiry. These are the fields that turn a general request into one that can be quoted against your specification.
The determination and its basis
Which Part of the series you require, under which test condition, and against which size fraction — named together rather than as a general requirement.
Where the figure has to be met
Whether the requirement applies at loading, at discharge or at your plant, since a charge can lose structure along the route.
The chemistry that travels with it
The assay and moisture figures you require alongside the burden result, and the basis they are to be reported on.
Documents expected
The records you require with the shipment, named individually: test report, sampling record and certificate as applicable.
Lot, destination and terms
The tonnage and the unit it is transacted in, together with the receiving place and the delivery term the enquiry is written against.
No price, availability, stock position, origin, mill, lead time or shipping arrangement appears on this page, and none is implied by it. A burden-behaviour requirement is one part of a commercial offer; it does not itself constitute one.
Qualified enquiry
Name the Part, the condition and the feedstock in the enquiry
Tell the commercial desk which feedstock you are buying, which reduction-disintegration requirement your specification names and under which Part, and which size fraction it is to be taken on. The enquiry reaches the same desk that answers the specification.
Price on request — no figure is published on this page.
Commercial desk reachable Monday to Saturday, 8.00 AM to 6.00 PM.
What to include in the request
- The feedstock form and grade band you are specifying.
- The Part of the series your specification names, and the test condition it is to be run under.
- The size fraction the charge is to be drawn from.
- The assay and moisture figures you require alongside the burden result, and their basis.
- The sampling basis behind the charge, and whether a surveyor is appointed.
- The reduction condition the charge is to be tested under, and how the result is to be reported against it.
Procurement navigator
Where the enquiry is being received
A burden requirement is settled against the destination as well as the material, because the receiving plant's acceptance basis is the buyer's, not the laboratory's. Choose the receiving market to carry it into the right procurement context.
Each market page covers import planning for that destination. This page covers the burden determination a specification for any of them has to name.
Questions
What metallurgists ask about the burden test
What does this test actually measure?
It describes how a sized charge of a coarse iron-bearing burden holds together while it is being reduced at low temperature. The concern it addresses is physical: as reduction proceeds, some materials generate fine material and lose their structure, and a burden that has broken down behaves differently in the furnace stack. The determination reports that breakdown behaviour. It does not report how much iron is present, nor how far the material reduced.
Is this the same as a reduction-degree or metallization test?
No, and the two are commonly conflated because both involve reducing a sample. A reduction-degree or metallization figure describes the extent to which reduction proceeded — how much of the iron was reduced. This determination describes whether the burden stayed intact during that reduction. One is about progress; the other is about physical integrity. A specification may call for one, the other, or both, and they come from different methods.
Which feedstock forms does it apply to?
It is written around a sized charge of a coarse burden — the lump, sinter and pellet materials that make up a furnace burden. Fines, concentrate and pellet feed are not that object, and a result taken on some other material does not evidence them. Where a plant assesses its pellet burden, confirm which reduction-related determination its own acceptance basis names, because a specification can differ on this.
Can I compare two reduction results directly?
Only when the basis matches. Two figures are comparable when they were taken on the same material form, under the same Part of the series, under the same test condition, and on a charge drawn from the same size fraction. Where any of those differ, the numbers are not measuring the same thing even when they carry the same name. A figure reported without its Part, its condition and its fraction cannot be placed beside another laboratory's figure.
What should be requested alongside the result?
Ask for the Part of the series applied and its edition, because the parent number alone does not identify the procedure or its test condition. Ask for the size fraction the charge was drawn from, since the result is attached to it. Ask which feedstock the result describes, and ask for the sampling and preparation basis behind the charge, because a burden test is only as representative as the sample it came from. Finally, ask who issued the report.
Does this page describe any material or certificate?
No. It describes the scope of a method. This page publishes no index value, no acceptance threshold and no test result for any material, and it makes no claim about any laboratory, inspection party or accreditation. The standard itself is the authority on its procedures, and its current edition and status are matters for the publisher's catalogue.
Sources
Where the method scope is defined
The standard is published by the International Organization for Standardization. Check the current edition and status there before relying on any particular Part — and check which standard applies to your process route before ordering.
ISO 4696-1
Low-temperature reduction-disintegration · Part 1 of the series
iso.org — check the current edition and status
ISO 4696-2
Low-temperature reduction-disintegration · Part 2 of the series
iso.org — check the current edition and status
ISO 11257
Shaft direct-reduction — a different process route and scope
iso.org — check the current edition and status
The standard itself sets out the procedures and their requirements. This page describes the scope and the questions a specification has to settle; it does not reproduce the methods' test parameters, and it publishes no result for any material.