Under the nitrogen atmosphere, carbothermal reactions of calcium oxide and magnetite began at about 900and 820
C, respectively. Above about 1200
C, CaO reacted with carbon to form CaC
2, and the interactionbetween carbon and CaO was dominant. At the temperature range of 820-920
C, Fe
3O
4 was reduced quicklyto Fe. After the process, with the increase of the heat-treatment temperature, Fe reacted with carbon to producethe eutectic compound of Fe and carbon (Fe
xC
y) and the mole ratio of C and Fe in Fe
xC
y became larger andlarger but no Fe
3C was presented. At the low-temperature range of 950-1100
C, calcium oxide and magnetiteseparately presented a catalytic action on the reactivity of carbon and the mixture of calcium oxide and magnetitehad a cocatalytic effect on the carbon reaction with CO
2. Under the CO
2 atmosphere, the carbothermal reactionsof metal oxides were restrained in the temperature range (950-1100
C) above the point, at which thecarbothermal reaction of metal oxides started to take place under the N
2 atmosphere.