Water modeling of molten steel flow in a multi-strand tundish with gas blowing

Fluid flow characteristics in a four-strand tundish with gas blowing were studied by water modeling experiments.It is found that gas blowing can greatly improve the flow characteristics in the tundish with a turbulence inhibitor.It dramatically increases the peak concentration time,and greatly decreases the dead volume,and reduces the minimum residence time.The gas blowing location,gas flow rate,and porous plug area greatly influence the flow characteristics in the tundish; the gas blowing location near the baffle,smaller gas flow rate,and smaller porous plug area are better for improving the fluid flow characteristics.Using gas blowing can reduce the difference of flows at the middle outlets and side outlets for the multi-strand tundish.Bubbles produced by gas blowing can absorb small inclusions and provide the condition for inclusion collision and aggregation.Therefore,introducing gas blowing into a tundish and combining the turbulence inhibitor can improve inclusion floating and removal,and the cleanness of molten steel can be advanced.

Effect of nonmetallic inclusions on localized corrosion of spring steel

Certain inclusions in high-strength 60Si2Mn-Cr spring steel result in poor resistance to localized corrosion.In this work,to study the effect of inclusions on the localized corrosion behavior of spring steel,accelerated corrosion tests were performed by immersing spring steel in 3wt%FeCl_(3)solution for different times.The results show that severe corrosion occurred in areas of clustered CaS inclusions.Sulfide inclusions containing Ca and Mg induced the strongest localized corrosion susceptibility.For the case of(Ca,Mn,Mg)S inclusions,the ability to induce localized corrosion susceptibility is ranked as follows:MgS>CaS>MnS.Moreover,CaS,(Ca,Mn)S,and(Ca,Mn,Mg)S inclusions were mainly responsible for inducing environmental embrittlement.

Influence of FeO and sulfur on solid state reaction between MnO-SiO_2-FeO oxides and an Fe-Mn-Si solid alloy during heat treatment at 1473 K

To clarify the influence of Fe O and sulfur on solid state reaction between an Fe-Mn-Si alloy and Mn O-Si O2-Fe O oxides under the restricted oxygen diffusion flux, two diffusion couples with different sulfur contents in the oxides were produced and investigated after heat treatment at 1473 K. The experimental results were also compared with previous work in which the oxides contained higher Fe O. It was found that although the Fe O content in the oxides decreased from 3wt% to 1wt% which was lower than the content corresponding to the equilibrium with molten steel at 1873 K, excess oxygen still diffused from the oxides to solid steel during heat treatment at 1473 K and formed oxide particles. In addition, increasing the sulfur content in the oxides was observed to suppress the diffusion of oxygen between the alloy and the oxides.

Temperature-dependent evolution of oxide inclusions during heat treatment of stainless steel with yttrium addition

The evolution of oxide inclusions during isothermal heating of 18Cr–8Ni stainless steel with yttrium addition at temperatures of 1273 to 1573 K was investigated systematically.Homogeneous spherical Al–Y–Si(–Mn–Cr)oxide inclusions were observed in as-cast steel.After heating,most of the homogeneous inclusions were transformed into heterogeneous inclusions with Y-rich and Al-rich parts,even though some homogeneous oxide particles were still observed at 1273 and 1573 K.With the increase in heating temperature,more large-sized inclusions were formed.The shape of the inclusions also changed from spherical to irregular.The maximum transformation temperature of inclusions was determined to be 1373 K.The evolution mechanism of inclusions during heating was proposed to be the combined effect of the(i)internal transformation of inclusions due to the crystallization of glassy oxide and(ii)interfacial reaction between inclusions and steel matrix.Meanwhile,the internal transformation of inclusions was considered to be the main factor at heating temperatures less than 1473 K.

Effects of elemental Sn on the properties and inclusions of the free-cutting steel

A new environment-friendly free-cutting steel alloyed with elemental Sn （Y20Sn） was developed to meet the requirements of machinability and mechanical properties according to GB/T8731--1988. The machinability of the steel is enhanced by the segregation of elemental Sn at grain boundaries. The effect of Sn segregation on intergranular brittle fracture at normal cutting temperature from 250℃ to 400℃ is confirmed. The formation mechanism of main inclusions MnS is influenced by the presence of Sn and the attachment of Sn around MnS itself as a surfactant, and this mechanism also explains the improvement in machinability and mechanical properties of the steel. In the steel, the relevant inclusions are mainly spherical or axiolitic, and are uniformly distributed in small volume. Such inclusions improve the machinability of the steel and do not impair the mechanical properties as well. Experimental results demonstrate that the appropriate content of Sn in the steel is 0.03wt% to 0.08wt%, and the remaining composition is close to that of standard Y20 steel.

Effects of the width and thickness of slabs on broadening in continuous casting

A 3D viscoelastic-plastic thermal-mechanical coupled finite element model was built on the basis of the secondary development of the commercial software MSC.Marc. Numerical simulations were performed to study slab broadening in the secondary cooling zone. The effects of slab width and thickness on slab broadening were considered. The obtained results reveal that the width broadening is noticeable, and the ratio of ultimate broadening slightly increases with the increase of slab width. This agrees well with the measured data in practice. There is no obvious increase in ultimate broadening when the thickness of slabs increases.

Rational argon stirring for a 150-t ladle furnace

Based on the principle of similarity, water modeling experiments were carried out for a 150-t ladle furnace. The rational parameters of argon stirring were determined as the optimized positions of nozzles, top area of the porous brick, and gas flow rate. The following results are obtained： 1） the optimized positions of two nozzles are at 0.333R （R refers to the radius of the ladle at bottom） with an angle of 135°; 2） the top diameter of the porous brick should be 130 mm; 3） the flow rate of gas should be 25.0-30.6 m^3/h. The plant trial shows that the improved process is effective in enhancing the cleanliness of round billets. The total oxygen content, microinclusions, and macroinclusions in round billets are reduced by 12.5%, 8.2%, and 20%, respectively.

Evolution of inclusions in vacuum induction melting of superalloys containing 70%return material

The variation law of inclusions type and size in the vacuum induction melting process and ingot of Ni-based superalloy containing 70%return material was studied by industrial test sampling,and the mechanism of inclusions formation was analyzed with thermodynamic calculations.The results show that there are mainly two types of composite inclusions in the vacuum induction melting of Ni-based superalloys,which are nitride-and oxide-based composite inclusions,like Al_(2)O_(3)-SiO_(2)-Cr_(2)O_(3),TiN-(Mo,Nb)C,etc.The type and proportion of inclusions from the center to the edge of the vacuum induction ingot did not change significantly.The number density of inclusions from the center to the edge of the ingot varied less,and the size of inclusions became smaller from the center to the edge.In addition,thermodynamic calculations show that oxides(M_(2)O_(3))are present in the liquid phase and mainly contain Al,Ti,Cr,Fe and O elements.The nitride consists mainly of Ti and N and contains small amounts of Cr,C,Nb,and Mo elements.This is consistent with the results of industrial tests.As the temperature decreases,the precipitation phases such as M_(2)O_(3),MN,γ,MC,δ,γ'andμphases are gradually precipitated,where oxides and nitrides are present in the liquid phase.The contents of O and N elements are the main influencing factors for the inclusions content and precipitation temperature;when the nitrogen content is reduced to below 0.0015%,it can make MN precipitate below the liquid-phase line.

Solid solubility extension and microstructure evolution of cast zirconium yttrium alloy

Yttrium addition can improve the oxidation resistance, mitigate hydrogen embrittlement and thus enhance the mechanical properties of the zirconium alloy. To study solid solubility extension of yttrium in zirconium alloy, the lattice parameters of ：t-Zr phase in Zr-Y alloy were accurately determined by X-ray diffraction （XRD）. Yttrium exhibits solid solubility extension in the cast zirconium alloy which forms a metastable supersaturated solid solution with solubility limit of around 3 wt%. The effect of yttrium and thermal treatment on the microstructure of the alloys was investigated by optical microscopy （OM） and scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The cast Zr-Y alloy shows a normal polycrys- talline structure with dispersed α-Y particles when Y content is lower than 4 wt%, while the alloy shows a eutectic structure with dendrites formation when the Y content is higher. Yttrium exhibits a strong grain refining effect on zirconium alloy and precipitates from the metastable supersaturated Zr matrix after annealing at 700 and 900 ℃.

Numerical model of inclusion separation from liquid metal with consideration of dissolution in slag

The transport of inclusion particles through the liquid metal/molten slag interface and their dissolution in the slag are two key processes of inclusion removal.Based on the latest version of inclusion transport model that takes into account full Reynolds number range and a dissolution kinetics model,a coupled model was developed to simulate the whole process of inclusion removal,from floating in the liquid steel to crossing the interface and further to entering and dissolving in the molten slag.The interaction between the inclusion motion and dissolution was discussed.Even though the inclusion velocity is a key parameter for dissolution,the simulation results show no obvious dissolution during moving state because the process is too short and most of the inclusions dissolve during its static stay in the slag side above the interface.The rate-controlling step of inclusion removal is the transport through the steel-slag interface for the small-size inclusion and static dissolution above the interface for the large-size inclusion,respectively.

Development and application of a multi-graphite electrode DC plasma tundish heating

The world’s first three-graphite electrode direct current(DC)plasma heating system(2500 kW)was successfully put into production on the 50-t tundish of a two-strand slab caster.The single metallic torch plasma tundish heaters were reviewed.In addition,the induction heating system was also estimated.The three-graphite electrode DC plasma tundish heating(PTH)system does not require any electrode to be fitted to the tundish.Five electrodes can be used to realize uniform and fast heating of the six-strand tundish.Heating with high power can effectively eliminate the steep temperature drop of the molten steel in the tundish during ladle change-over.The system has turned out to be very reliable,simple,and maintenance-free.The heating rate is high within 0.5 to 2.0℃/min.Some heats with ultra-low superheat(2.6-11.0℃)were observed,and the molten steels were successfully cast by the powerful heating capacity and good control performance of the system in the practical production.It can be concluded that continuous casting with superheat of 5-10℃in the tundish was fully realistic with PTH.

Three-phase Fluid Numerical Simulation and Water Modeling Experiment of Supersonic Oxygen Jet Impingement on Molten Bath in EAF

By means of the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent 6.3, a mathematical model of three-dimensional three-phase fluid flow field in the molten bath of electric arc furnace （EAF） with side accessorial oxygen lances was developed to study the transient phenomena of oxygen jet impingement on the molten steel and the molten slag. The water modeling experiment was carried out to verify the simulation results. The impingement of the supersonic oxygen jet caused impact dent on the molten steel surface accordingly. The area of impact dent changed almost in linear relationship to flow rate of oxygen jet, which can be expressed by a deduced mathematical equation. And the relationship between the impact force of oxygen iet and the correspondingly formed apparent static pressure on molten bath was obtained, which was in linear relationship and a direct proportion, and can also be expressed by a deduced mathematical equation.

A Mathematical Model to Characterize RH Desulfurization Process

A physical model based on similarity principles was built to simulate RH desulfurization process. In order to quantitatively analyze RH desulfurization process, a mathematical model was proposed. By analyzing experimental results with the mathematical model, an empirical formula whose determination coefficient was 0.98 was given to express the relationship between transient desulfurization efficiency and time. All the determination coefficients of four fitted curves based on four repeated experiments with different gas flow rates were more than 0.94, which was the exact evidence of the rationality of the empirical formula. Meanwhile, it was found that transient desulfurization ability increased firstly and then decreased with increasing gas flow rate and reached the maximum value when the gas flow rate was 1.8 m^3/h. A plenty of repeated trials showed the same rule, which validated the mathematical model and the conclusions obtained from physical experiments.

Effect of vanadium on modification of inclusions in Mn-and Si-deoxidized steel during heat treatment at 1 473 K

The effect of vanadium （V） on the modification of oxide inclusions in steels with different concentra- tions of Mn, Si, and V was determined before and after heat treatment at 1473 K. Changes in the morphology, size, and composition of these inclusions were analyzed. Equilibrium relations between the inclusions and steels at 1873 K and 1473 K were calculated using available thermodynamic data to roughly approximate the stable oxide inclusions in the steels, The results revealed that the concentra- tions of V and Si in the steel are critical for controlling the modification of the inclusions during heat treatment at 1473 K. MnO-SiO2-type oxide inclusions gradually transformed into MnO-V2O3-type or Mn-SiO2- and MnO-V2 O3-type inclusions in low Si high-V steels heat-treated for 60 min, In addi- tion, the morphology of the inclusions changed from spherical to irregular. A Si-accumulated zone and a V-depleted zone formed close to the interface in the steel matrix. The experimental and calcula- tion results indicated that, during the heat treatment, an interface chemical reaction occurred be- tween the Fe-Mn-Si-V steel and the MnO-SiO2 type oxide inclusion.

Interfacial reaction between oxide inclusion and steel matrix deoxidized by Si and Mn at 1473 K

An improved diffusion couple method was used to simulate the dynamic process of the solid-state reaction at the interface between oxide inclusions and a steel matrix deoxidized by Si and Mn during heat treatment at 1473 K. Experimental results indicated that good contact between the oxide and steel matrix was attained after pre-treatment at 1673 K. In addition, the reaction between the oxide and steel matrix at 1673 K was suppressed, and the effect of this reaction on the diffusion couple experiments at 1473 K was minimized. In the diffusion couple experiments, the diffusion of oxygen from the oxide to the steel matrix resulted in the precipitation of fine oxide particles and a decrease in the Mn content in the steel matrix near the interface after heat treatment at 1473 K. With increasing heat treatment time, the widths of the particle precipitation zone （PPZ） and Mn-depleted zone （MDZ） gradually increased. In addition, the solid-state reaction at the interface between the oxide and steel matrix was intense, and the widths of the PPZ and MDZ increased rapidly during the 0-20 h stage of heat treatment, especially during the 0-5 h stage. The interfacial reaction was retarded, and the rates of width expansion of PPZ and MDZ decreased with increasing heat treatment time.