Formation of Inclusions and their Development during Secondary Steelmaking

Sammanfattning: Al–O relations in iron were investigated. Pure iron with varying Al content was equilibrated at 1873 K. The oxygen content of iron with higher Al content than 1.0 mass % was found to be much lower than previous works, while the oxygen content for Al content less than 1 mass% was found to be slightly higher. Further, a classification procedure of inclusions was developed using the commercial software INCA Feature. Three classes were made, spinel, TP-(CaO-Al2O3), and (CaO-Al2O3) class, corresponding to the inclusions found during degassing at Uddeholm Tooling. The results showed that the spinel phase disappeared after degassing along with a reduction in numbers for the two phase inclusion (TP-(CaO-Al2O3)). Pure calcium aluminates however showed an increasing trend in a majority of the heats. The chemical development of inclusions at OVAKO Steel in Hofors, Sweden was also established. According to the morphologies and compositions, the inclusions were classified into 5 different types, namely, (1) alumina inclusions, (2) calcium aluminate, (3) spinel+calcium aluminate, (4) calcium aluminate surrounded by a CaS shell, and (5) spinel+calcium aluminate surrounded by a CaS shell. Thereafter refractory lining samples with attached slag layer were taken from used ladles at the two steel plants. The morphologies of the slag layers and the phases present were examined. The precipitated phases found in the refractory were 3CaO.Al2O3, MgO.Al2O3 and CaO in the case of Ovako Steel and 3CaO.Al2O3 and 2CaO.SiO2 in the case of Uddeholm Tooling. To help the understanding, model calculations using THERMOCALC were carried out. The model predictions differed somewhat from the experimental observation, the predicted major phases were in line with the EDS analysis on the refractory samples. Finally experiments were carried out to study the slag entrainment related to the open-eye during ladle treatment. Ga-In-Sn alloy was used to simulate the liquid steel, while MgCl2-Glycerol(87%) solution was used to simulate the ladle slag. No noticeable amount of top liquid was observed in any of the samples taken from the metal bulk during gas stirring. To confirm this aspect, slag-metal interface samples were taken from an industrial gas stirred steel ladle. No entrapment was found in the steel. The accordance of the laboratory and industrial results suggests that the entrainment of slag into the steel bulk around the open-eye cannot be considered as the major contribution to inclusion formation.