Controlling oxygen content in electro-slag remelting steel by optimizing slag-steel reaction process

The thermodynamic equilibrium of deoxidation reactions between molten slag and steel was calculated using a slag-steel coupling thermodynamic model and the mass conservation model based on the ion-molecular coexistence theory.The study focused on the effects of slag composition and deoxidizer type on the oxygen content of low alloy steel during the electroslag remelting(ESR)process.The measured and predicted values of the oxygen content in remelted ingots,and the contents of FeO and MnO in slags were compared and analyzed.Results show that the measured content of total oxygen has a certain correlation with the trend of dissolved oxygen predicted by the model when using Ca-Si alloys as deoxidizer,but it is not correlated with the trend of dissolved oxygen predicted by the model when using Al as deoxidizer.The deoxidation mechanisms of Ca-Si and Al are different.Ca-Si alloy directly reacts with FeO and MnO in slag to reduce the oxygen potential of slag,hence it can inhibit the transfer of oxygen from the slag to molten steel.While,when Al deoxidizer is used,the oxygen content in steel is mainly reduced through floating up the alumina inclusions.Compared to Al,utilizing Ca-Si alloy as a deoxidizer is more effective in reducing the oxygen content and the amount of inclusions in ESR ingot.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation on Mobility and Aggregation of Macromolecular Lubricant Oxidation Products and Their Influences on Base Stock

The mobility and aggregation behavior of macromolecular lubricant oxidation products and their influences on the performance of base stock were probed by molecular dynamics(MD)simulation.The mean square displacement(MSD)of molecules was calculated to explore the mobility of molecules.The distribution appearance of lubricant oxidation products in models was acquired to explore the aggregation of molecules.The results show that the mobility of macromolecular oxidation products is lower than that of base stock.The MSD of macromolecular oxidation products reduces with an increasing macromolecular weight.Macromolecular oxidation products can also decrease the mobility of base stock.The interaction energy between the macromolecules and the base stock soars with the increase of macromolecular weight.Macromolecules with a larger molecular weight can affect more base stock molecules with stronger restriction,which leads to lower mobility of base stock molecules.There are aggregates formed among macromolecular oxidation products,and the molecules in aggregates are connected by hydrogen bonds.The quantity of hydrogen bonds in aggregates is related to temperature.

Novel concept of recycling sludge and dust to BOF converter through dispersed in-situ phase induced by composite ball explosive reaction

Recycling of iron and steelmaking dusts is a key issue in environmental protection efforts and to ensure efficient utilization. In this investigation, we developed a novel recovery process that uses a dispersed in-situ phase induced by an explosive reaction of composite balls of iron and steelmaking dusts. We designed and prepared composite balls for this function using a laboratory model batch-type balling disc(at 12 r/min) and optimized the feeding modes in 180-t and 260-t basic oxygen furnace(BOF) converters. The results indicate that feeding composite balls into BOF converters is an effective novel technology for recovering iron and steelmaking dusts. The period after hot metal charging and prior to the oxygen-blowing process is the most reasonable time to feed composite balls. Composite ball treatment is not appropriate for steel production with sulfur requirements lower than 80 ppm. The maximum composite ball feeding amount is 40 kg/t and the iron yield rate is better than 95%. Compared with the conventional recycling process of sludge and dust, this novel technology is more convenient and efficient, saving up to 309 RMB per ton of steel. Further investigation of this novel recycling technology is merited.

Molecular Simulation of Chain Initiation Mechanism in Oxidation of Lubricant Base Stock

Chain initiation reactions in the oxidation process of lubricant base stock molecules were studied by molecular simulations.Two ways to initiate lubricant oxidation were investigated.They included the dissociation of chemical bonds in base stock molecules and the reaction between base stock molecules and oxygen(O_(2)),respectively.Reaction activation energy of above methods was calculated.The results show that C‒C bonds are more likely to break than C‒H bonds to generate free radicals by the pyrolysis of chemical bonds.The C‒C bonds with tertiary carbon atoms are preferential positions to crack.However,their bond dissociation energy is above 360 kJ/mol,which is difficult to occur under lubricant working conditions.The chain initiation is more likely to occur by the way that O_(2) attacks the two atoms in C‒H bonds at the same time,and is then embedded into the C‒H bond to produce hydrocarbon peroxides.And then,the O‒O bond is cracked to form hydroxyl radicals and alkoxy radicals.The C‒H bonds with tertiary carbon atoms are preferential reaction sites,the reaction activation energy of which is about 190.11 kJ/mol.

Prediction of blast furnace gas generation based on data quality improvement strategy

The real-time energy flow data obtained in industrial production processes are usually of low quality.It is difficult to accurately predict the short-term energy flow profile by using these field data,which diminishes the effect of industrial big data and artificial intelligence in industrial energy system.The real-time data of blast furnace gas(BFG)generation collected in iron and steel sites are also of low quality.In order to tackle this problem,a three-stage data quality improvement strategy was proposed to predict the BFG generation.In the first stage,correlation principle was used to test the sample set.In the second stage,the original sample set was rectified and updated.In the third stage,Kalman filter was employed to eliminate the noise of the updated sample set.The method was verified by autoregressive integrated moving average model,back propagation neural network model and long short-term memory model.The results show that the prediction model based on the proposed three-stage data quality improvement method performs well.Long short-term memory model has the best prediction performance,with a mean absolute error of 17.85 m3/min,a mean absolute percentage error of 0.21%,and an R squared of 95.17%.

Effects of continuous cooling rate on morphology of granular bainite in pipeline steels

The morphology and characteristics of granular bainite (GB) in pipeline steels at different continuous cooling rates were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The results show that the morphology of ferrite matrix in GB turned from the lath sheaf structure into the nearly equiaxed large grain with the cooling rate decreasing from high (60℃/s) to low (5-10℃/s). At the medium cooling rate (20-40℃/s), GB consisted of the irregular ferrite matrix, the granular martensite/austenite (M/A) constituents and abundant substructures inside. The formation of the irregular ferrite and substructure was attributed to the high-temperature recovery which occurred at relatively high-temperature stage before phase transformation. The granular morphology of M/A constitu-ents was formed from the carbon-rich triple junctions which were produced by the multidirectional substructure interfaces converged with each other. Particularly, some martensite in M/A constituents was misoriented from the adjacent ferrite by very small misorientation angle, which could be characterized by the mean band contrast function of EBSD qualitatively or semiquantitatively.

Relationship between microstructure and corrosion behavior of high-grade pipeline steel in a low-temperature environment

The relationship between micro structure and corrosion behavior of high-grade pipeline steel under low-temperature conditions was comparatively investigated by the potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spec-troscopy test combining with optical micrographs,scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction.The results showed that,compared with room and high temperature,low temperature could influence the corrosion behavior of high-grade pipeline steel,which means that the corrosion potential and current density decreased and the corrosion resistance increased significantly.Moreover,double layer structures of the interface became thicker and more compact.Under low-temperature environment,acicular ferrite had the martensite/austenite constituents with less amount and smaller size,a higher density of low angle grain boundaries and smaller effective grain sizes compared with granular bainite,which demonstrated higher corrosion resistance.

Measurement of two-phase velocities in bubble flows using laser Doppler velocimetry

The measurement of two-phase velocities in bubble flows using laser Doppler velocimetry(LDV)is studied.The key to the problem is to differentiate the LDV signals from bubbles and tracers,based on which the two-phase velocities can be characterized.In this study,two experiments are carried out.Firstly,the bubble-chain experiment is performed to investigate the optical response of bubble surface and the corresponding LDV signal.The optical response shows that the light received by the LDV detector is dominated by the reflection component,which is similar to specular reflection to some extent.There are three typical patterns of signals of large bubbles passing through the measurement volume,all of which are with high amplitude and saturated.Then,the upward-flow experiment is conducted to study the statistical characteristics of large bubbles as well as micro tracers and micro bubbles.The results show that the amplitude of signal of millimeter bubbles is about an order of magnitude larger than that of tracers or micro bubbles.Based on this significant difference of the amplitude,we propose a phase discrimination method to distinguish two-phase signals.The capability of the proposed method is tested in a complex bubble flow,and its reliability is verified by bubble tracking velocimetry(BTV)technology.

An innovative process of clad teeming for preparing slab ingot

An innovative process of clad teeming was proposed to prepare slab ingot,which featured a built-in cold core to inhibit solidification defects.A 20-kg clad ingot was prepared in the experiment,using a volume ratio of solid core to molten steel of 1:13 and a preheating temperature of cold core of 573 K.Solidification microstructures of the clad ingot were analyzed by comparing with a reference ingot without cold core.Interfacial morphologies and mechanical properties of the clad ingot were studied before and after hot rolling.The effect of cold core on heat transfer and nucleation during the solidification in clad ingot was analyzed.Results show that the solidification microstructures in the clad ingot are refined and homogenized obviously.The grain size in the center of the reference ingot is 2–3 times greater than that of clad ingot,and there is almost no columnar grain in the clad ingot.The interfacial shear strength reaches 318 MPa,which shows excellent metallurgical bonding at the interface of cold core and molten steel.Tiny defects at the interface are eliminated,and interfacial shear strength reaches 426 MPa after hot rolling with a 68.4%total reduction ratio.The experiment and analysis of this process are expected to provide a new idea to prepare large ingots with refinement and homogeneity at a low cost.

Effect of welding speed on microstructure and mechanical properties of laser-welded transformation induced plasticity(TRIP)steels

The weldability of 0.28C-2.0Mn-0.93Al-0.97Si(wt.%)transformation induced plasticity(TRIP)steels was investigated using a 2.5 kW CO2 laser at the welding speeds of 2,2.5 and 3 m/min.The welded joints were characterized in terms of hardness,tensile properties and microstructure.High-quality welded joints of TRIP steels with the carbon equivalent of 0.7 were obtained.Lower loss of ductility,nearly unvaried hardness of the fusion zone(FZ)and tensile strength equal to the base metal were observed with increasing welding speed.Lath martensite and lower bainite formed in FZ and the microstructure of FZ varied little with welding speed.Weld thermal simulations of heat-afected zone(HAZ)were carried out using a quenching dilatometer,and the microstructures of dilatometric samples revealed the carbon diffusion-controlled transformations in HAZ.The microstructure distribution of HAZ could be influenced by the welding speed due to the significant temperature gradient over the narrow HAZ.