Phase Equilibria in a Liquid Metal of Fe-La-Ce-O System at 1600 °С

Thermodynamic modeling of phase equilibria in a liquid metal of Fe–La–Ce–O system at 1600 °С, using the technique of constructing the solubility surfaces for the components of a metal, was carried out. The calculation technique allowed assessing the depth of liquid iron de-oxidation at a complex use of lanthanum and cerium as deoxidizing agents. Also, diagrams of de-oxidants’ consumption for one ton of liquid oxygen-containing iron were calculated in the course of the work. Carrying out a calculation of the solubility surfaces for the components of a metal required simulation of phase diagrams of the following oxide systems: FeO–La2O3–Ce2O3, FeO–CeO2–La2O3, CeO2–La2O3–Ce2O3. The obtained results might be of interest for optimization of the use of rare-earth metals in steelmaking technology.

Effect of slag-remaining operation on dephosphorization based on single-slag converter steelmaking technology

During converter steelmaking process, large amounts of slags are generated which take away heat and iron resources from molten bath. The slag-remaining operation is a kind of hot slag recycling. It is that all or most of the slags are left in the converter for next heat during continuous production of several successive heats. The basicity of the remaining slag is about 3, and the content of (FeO) is about 20%.When slag-remaining operation is adopted, it increases the slagging speed in the early stage. Influence of slag-remaining process on the dephosphorization during converter steelmaking was studied through industrial practice and theoretical calculation. The results show that the slag-remaining operation can realize low cost and high efficiency for converter steelmaking. It can reduce the consumption of lime and achieve better dephosphorization effect. But phosphorus content in slag increases gradually with the increase of slag remaining times and the dephosphorization capacity of slag is reduced, which result in the poor dephosphorization of steel. Therefore, the times of slag-remaining should be less than 5 to ensure the dephosphorization of steel.

Modeling of Steelmaking Processes

In the field of experiment, theory, modeling and simulation, the most noteworthy progressions applicable to steelmaking technology have been closely linked with the emergence of more powerful computing tools, advances in needful software's and algorithms design, and to a lesser degree, with the development of emerging computing theory. These have enabled the integration of several different types of computational techniques (for example, quantum chemical, and molecular dynamics, DFT, FEM, Soft computing, statistical learning etc., to name a few) to provide high-performance simulations of steelmaking processes based on emerging computational models and theories. This chapter overviews the general steps and concepts for developing a computational process model including few exercises in the area of steel making. The various sections of the chapter aim to describe how to developed models for various issues related to steelmaking processes and to simulate a physical process starts with the process fundaments. The examples include steel converter, tank vacuum degassing, and continuous casting, etc.

Changes in Hydrogen Content During Steelmaking

Štore Steel produces steel grades for spring, forging and engineering industry applications. Steelmaking technology consists of scrap melting in Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), secondary metallurgy in Ladle Furnace (LF) and continuous casting of billets (CC). Hydrogen content during steelmaking of various steel grades and steelmaking technologies was measured. Samples of steel melt from EAF, LF and CC were collected and investigated. Sampling from Electric Arc Furnace and Ladle Furnace was carried out using vacuum pin tubes. Regular measurements of hydrogen content in steel melt were made using Hydris device. Hydrogen content results measured in tundish by Hydris device were compared with results from pin tube samples. Based on the measurement results it was established that hydrogen content during steelmaking increases. The highest values were determined in tundish during casting. Factors that influence the hydrogen content in liquid steel the most were steelmaking technology and alloying elements.