Simulation on scrap melting behavior and carbon diffusion under natural convection

A 3D model applying temperature-and carbon concentration-dependent material properties was developed to describe the scrap melting behavior and carbon diffusion under natural convection.Simulated results agreed reasonably well with experimental ones.Scrap melting was subdivided into four stages:formation of a solidified layer,rapid melting of the solidified layer,carburization,and carburization+normal melting.The carburization stage could not be ignored at low temperature because the carburization time for the sample investigated was 214 s at 1573 K compared to 12 s at 1723 K.The thickness of the boundary layer with significant concentration difference at 1573 K increased from 130μm at 5 s to 140μm at 60 s.The maximum velocity caused by natural convection decreased from 0.029 m·s^(−1)at 5 s to 0.009 m·s^(−1)at 634 s because the differences in temperature and density between the molten metal and scrap decreased with time.