Most relevant mechanisms of inclusion growth in an induction–stirred ladle

Abstract

The purpose of this study has been to theoretically evaluate which inclusion growth mechanisms are important in an inductively stirred ladle. This has been done using data from a computational fluid dynamics model of a real ladle. The data was utilized as the input to the different collision equations. It was concluded that diffusion of oxygen and deoxidant to the inclusion surface, diffusion coalescence and Brownian motion collisions contribute very little to growth of inclusions during the stirring period in the ladle. This was in accordance with earlier findings in the literature. This study also showed that laminar shear collisions could be excluded from a growth model. The major growth mechanism is turbulent collisions. It was also shown that a 700–A stirring current leads to more growth due to turbulent collisions than a 500–A stirring current. The importance of a correct value of the collision efficiency coefficient for turbulent collisions was pointed out. If a large difference in inclusion size exists then collisions due to difference in buoyancy (Stokes collisions) also need to be considered in a growth model. Finally, it is concluded that the variation in fluid flow and turbulent properties in different parts of the ladle should be incorporated into a growth model, since it can affect average turbulent collision volumes by 25–30%.