Phase field simulation study of the attachment of metallic droplets to solid particles in liquid slags based on real slag–spinel micrographs

Abstract

Pyrometallurgical industries encounter production losses due to the attachment of metallic droplets to solid particles in liquid slags. Experimental work on this topic remains very challenging. Simulations based on a phase field model can circumvent this lack of experimental data and allow a more systematic insight into the role of the different parameters on the observed phenomenon.In the present work, a recently developed phase-field model to simulate the attachment of liquid metal droplets to solid particles in slags is extended to consider real microstructures of solid particles in liquid slags. Furthermore, it is investigated which initialization method for the liquid metal droplets corresponds best to the experimental conditions. One of the initialization methods used spinodal decomposition of a supersaturated slag to introduce the metallic droplets, whereas the other initialization consists of positioning metallic droplets in the slag in a random way. The simulations showed that both initialization methods result in microstructures that correspond with experimental observations, which points to the existence of several origins for the attachment of metal droplets to solid particles in slags.