Monitoring the oxygen removal process at the final stage of melting steel
Abstract This article deals with removing oxygen at the final stage of steel smelting in arc steel-making furnaces. It is shown that the remaining oxygen during crystallization forms floccules and significantly reduces the quality of the finished metal. During the subsequent metal processing by pressure on these floccules, the metal is torn apart and makes it impossible to obtain a steel sheet. Deoxidation is performed with expensive ferroalloys, and their consumption must be minimized. To achieve economic efficiency, it has been proposed to use recycled aluminum slag as a relatively inexpensive local deoxidizer. To optimize the deoxidizer consumption, a rapid analysis method was developed using the electromotive force (EMF) determination to determine the oxygen activity in liquid steel. As a result of the study, the composition, structure, and technological parameters of deoxidized steel were determined. The use of this technology in production will make it possible to obtain high-quality steel and improve environmental protection through secondary aluminum waste.