Refining behaviour of vacuum oxygen decarburisation process

The characteristics and classification of decarburization and denitrogenation in the vacuum vessel for stainless steel production are analyzed. Based on the analysis of movements of the liquid steel and bubbles, the kinetics of decarburization and denitrogenation in the vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) process has been studied. A kinetic model of decarburization and denitrogenation has been developed to simulate the VOD process, considering each reaction zone as oxygen blowing crater, bottom blowing plume, steel/slag interface, and plume eye. As a result, it is possible to quantify the contribution of each reaction zone in decarburization and denitrogenation rate at a different stage in the VOD process. Specific trials at a vacuum induction furnace were performed to refine stainless steel in vacuum carbon deoxidation (VCD) and VOD style, respectively. The trial results are in good agreement with the model calculation. Combining the trials and the model calculation and the influence of temperature control, critical carbon content selection on the terminal total [C] + [N] content can be discussed further to provide a reasonable proposal for high-quality ferritic stainless steel production.

Specialty stainless steels designed with higher levels of Chromium, Nickel and Molybdenum than the general austenitic grades AISI 304 and AISI 316 have distinctly superior corrosion resistance properties. The commercial production of such high alloyed stainless steels came with advent of improved steel melting, refining and casting technologies. These technological improvements made it possible to produce such steels with low carbon levels and close control of chemical composition necessary to achieve the desired phase balance and avoid formation of undesirable intermetallic phases. Further, ability to achieve low sulphur levels combined with freedom from undesirable level of tramp elements improved the hot workability characteristics. Thermodynamic aspects of steelmaking and refining in Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization ( VOD) process for manufacture of specialty grades 904L (24% Ni, 20% Cr, 4% Mo, 1.2%Cu) , 317LM ( 19% Cr, 14.5% Ni, 4% Mo,) , 2205 ( 22.5% Cr, 5% Ni, 3% Mo) at Mukand through the Triplex process route ( Ultra High Power Furnace Oxygen Top and Bottom Blown Convertor VOD) are outlined. The effects of undesirable intermetallic phases, particularly sigma phase, on mechanical and corrosion properties are discussed. Application areas for such specialty grades are reviewed. Keywords: High alloyed Stainless steels, triplex process, sigma phase, intermetallic phases, tramp elements, hot workability, corrosion properties, vacuum oxygen decarburization.

The fluid flow in a bath in combined top and bottom blowing vacuum‐oxygen decarburization (VOD) refining process of stainless steel has numerically been simulated. The three‐dimensional mathematical model used is essentially based on that proposed in our previous work for the flow in combined side and top blowing argon‐oxygen decarburization (AOD) process, but considering the influence of reduced ambient pressure. Applying it to the flow in the bath of a 120 t VOD vessel under the refining conditions, the results present that the model can fairly well simulate and estimate the flow phenomena. The flow pattern of molten steel in the bath with the combined blowing is a composite result under the common action of the jets from a three‐hole Laval top lance and gas bottom blowing streams. The jets have a leading role on it; the molten steel in the whole bath is in vigorous stirring and circulatory motion during the blowing process. The streams do not alter the basic features of the gas agitation and liquid flow, but can evidently change the local flow pattern of the liquid and increase its turbulent kinetic energy to a certain extent. The flow field and turbulent kinetic energy distribution in the combined blowing with three tuyeres are more uniform than those in the blowing with double tuyeres. Increasing properly the tuyere eccentricities is of advantage for improving the velocity and turbulent kinetic energy distributions, the stirring and mixing result in the practical VOD refining process.

As a key step in secondary refining, the deoxidation process in clean stainless steel production is widely researched by many scholars. In this study, vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) deoxidation refining in a 40-t electric arc furnace + VOD + ingot casting process was analyzed and optimized on the basis of Al deoxidation of stainless steel and thermodynamic equilibrium reactions between the slag and steel. Under good stirring conditions in VOD, the deoxidation reaction reaches equilibrium rapidly, and the oxygen activity in the bulk steel is controlled by the slag composition and Al content. A basicity of 3–5 and an Al content greater than 0.015wt% in the melt resulted in an oxygen content less than 0.0006wt%. In addition, the dissolved oxygen content decreased slightly when the Al content in the steel was greater than 0.02wt%. Because of the equilibrium of the Si–O reaction between the slag and steel, the activity of SiO2 will increase while the Si content increases; thus, the Si content should be lowered to enable the formation of a high-basicity slag. A high-basicity, low-Al2O3 slag and an increased Si content will reduce the Al consumption caused by SiO2 reduction.

The central issue in stainless steelmaking is the difficulty of oxidising carbon from molten steel without also oxidising large proportions of expensive chromium. This can, however, be achieved by reducing the partial pressure of the gaseous product of carbon oxidation, carbon monoxide. Modern stainless steelmaking is dominated by duplex processes, which prepare a high carbon melt in an electrical arc furnace and then decarburise the melt in a converter, such as a 'vacuum oxygen decarburisation' converter in which oxygen is blown onto the melt in an evacuated chamber. In this work, the thermodynamic basis of preferential carbon oxidation at low total pressures is discussed, together with a review of VOD practice. VOD steelmaking is then simulated using computational thermodynamics software to illustrate the process principles. It was predicted that CrO is the dominant chromium oxide species in slag and that solid CrO1·5 will be formed during oxygen blowing. Carbon contents as low as 0·001 wt-% are possible, but not achieved due to mass transfer rate limitations. Silicon is a very effective reductant for chromium oxides and also reduces some of the MnO in slag. The recovery of chromium from the slag is very high, but limited by the increasing proportion of added silicon, which dissolves into the steel bath.

Doloma carbon bricks with graphite contents of approximately 2 wt% are widely used in the production of stainless steels in argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) or in vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) vessels as lining material. The application of doloma refractories is connected with metallurgical benefits such as high oxidic stability of its oxides, and the ability to bond sulphur from the hot metal. The production and application of carbon bonded refractories is linked with environmental harmful emissions in the broadest sense. Amongst the aspect of environmental friendly refractory systems this work has observed and shown the interaction of functional ceramic material TiO2 with the organic binder system. In the centre of this work is the aspect of increased residual carbon content of the binder resin due to TiO2 addition. The increased residual carbon content of the binder resin connected with improved mechanical, physical and thermomechanical properties due to sub‐micro scaled TiO2 addition offers the feasibility to reduce the total carbon content without downgrading the brick properties. This aspect has not been observed yet and is of high interest with respect to reduced emissions and environmental friendly refractories. Previous works have investigated the influence of TiO2 on other carbon bonded refractory systems such as alumina carbon and magnesia carbon. As illustrated in this work and previous work, TiO2 is working completely different in the Doloma Carbon system from other systems.

This study has focused on numerically exploring the oxygen flow in the convergent‐divergent De Laval nozzle. The De Laval nozzle has been commonly used as oxygen outlet at the lance tip in the vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) process. The nozzle geometry used in an active VOD plant was investigated by isentropic nozzle theory as well as by numerical modeling. Since an optimal nozzle design is only valid for a certain ambient pressure, one VOD nozzle will be less efficient for a large part of the pressure cycle. Different ambient pressures were used in the calculations that were based on the De Laval nozzle theory. Flow patterns of the oxygen jet under different ambient pressures were studied and the flow information at different positions from the nozzle was analyzed. In addition, the study compared the effects of different ambient temperatures on jet velocity and dynamic pressure. The predictions revealed that the modeling results obtained with the CFD modeling showed incorrect flow expansion, which agreed well with the results from the De Laval theory. Moreover, a little under‐expansion is somewhat helpful to improve the dynamic pressure. The jet dynamic pressure and its width for the specific nozzle geometry have also been studied. It has been observed that an altering ambient pressure can influence the jet momentum and its width. In addition, a high ambient temperature has a positive effect on the improvement of the jet dynamic pressure.

High costs for vacuum generation and maintenance can be overcome by replacing steam ejector pumps with mechanical vacuum pumps, initially for the vacuum degassing (VD) process but later also for the vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) process. Initial concerns about the technical suitability of mechanical pumps for vacuum processing of large heat weights have proven unfounded. There is no real technical upper limit. With detailed knowledge about the vacuum process mechanical vacuum pumps can be successfully engineered for any heat weight where a steam ejector pump would previously have been selected. In fact, suction speed of mechanical vacuum pumps can be ideally controlled to fit the various phases of vacuum processing. This article will show how mechanical vacuum pumps contribute to significant cost reduction and to the possibility of automation of decarburisation, thereby achieving better process control.

In Vacuum Oxygen Decarburization(VOD) steel refining process, the endpoint carbon content and endpoint temperature are criteria for smelting products. A VOD model is often needed to predict the endpoint data. During the modeling of VOD, some parameters are difficult to chose, thus affects the model prediction accuracy. Based on the VOD mathematical model, the process is analyzed to chose the main factors inflecting the prediction. Using RBF neural network, the correlation parameters is adjusted to improve the model forecast accuracy. The simulation result shows the prediction accuracy is better than it does before.

Magnesia–chromite bricks are used as refractories for the refining of stainless steel in vacuum–oxygen decarburisation (VOD) ladles. Refractory wear is not uniform. In the present work, worn bricks from different zones in the ladle have been analysed, and a set of interdependent degradation mechanisms is proposed. Refractory wear as a function of position in the ladle is discussed. Slag infiltration and MgO dissolution from the refractory were observed in all samples, whereas FeOx decomposition was seen at two levels in the high wear samples. First, partial decomposition of primary chromite crystals ( (Mg) [Fe3+, Cr, Al]2 O4 ) occurred at the hot face of the brick. Three layers were distinguished in the reacted chromite crystals and a reaction mechanism is presented. Second, a decrease in the FeOx content of the magnesia phase occurred at the hot face of the brick. The negative effect of the presence of FeOx in magnesia–chromite refractories is discussed and the influence of the ferrostatic pressure is demonstrated. Finally, the consequences of the following phenomena are discussed: increase in brick porosity, slag infiltration, corrosion, erosion of the partially liquid bonded refractory system, and spalling and cracking.

The formation and characteristics of non-metallic inclusions in 304L stainless steel during the vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) refining process were investigated using industrial experiments and thermodynamic calculations. The compositional characteristics indicated that two types of inclusions with different sizes (from 1 μm to 30 μm) existed in 304L stainless steel during the VOD refining process, i.e., CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO external inclusions, and CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO-MnO endogenous inclusions. The calculation results obtained using the FactSage 7.1 software confirmed that the inclusions that were larger than 5 μm were mostly CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO; the similarity in composition to the slag indicated that these inclusions originated from the slag entrapment. The CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO-MnO inclusions that were smaller than 5 μm originated mainly from the oxidation reaction with Ca, Al, Mg, Si, and Mn. The changes in the inclusion composition resulting from changes in the Ca, Al, and O contents, and the temperature during the VOD refining process was larger for the smaller inclusions. Generating mechanisms for the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO-MnO inclusions in the 304L stainless steel were proposed.

SummaryThis article focuses on the vacuum equipment used in vacuum degassing (VD) and vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) processes. Despite harsh process conditions caused by outgassing and the process gases themselves, there are various pumping principles and designs of vacuum pumps that can be used. Through clever pump selection there is an opportunity to realize substantial energy and operating resource savings on the vacuum pumping side. Last but not least, a new pump series will be presented that further contributes to cost reduction through higher efficiency.

Effects of non-metallic inclusions on the initiation of pitting corrosion in 11% Cr ferritic stainless steel examined by micro-droplet cell

In this study, STS316L produced by a single-melting vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) process, referred to as SM, and a double-melting process involving vacuum induction melting (VIM) and vacuum arc remelting (VAR), referred to as DM, was subjected to extrusion and drawing to form a tube, followed by electrolytic polishing (EP). The surface roughness of layer on the DMed sample is 0.02 μm, which is much lower than that on the SMed sample of 0.13 μm. The thickness of the EP layer on STS316L by SM and DM revealed the values of approximately 7.1 nm and 8.2 nm, respectively. The Cr/Fe and CrO/FeO ratios in the EP layer on the DMed sample were 1.62 and 2.26, respectively, while, in the SMed sample, 1.22 and 2.03. Consequently, the EPed STS316L by DM showed better corrosion resistance in HCl solution and small amounts of Cr and Fe eluted in HCl solutions.

A dynamic model for the vacuum oxygen decarburization (VOD) refining process is presented. A new method is used to calculate the oxygen distribution in the metal/gas reactions. It is based on a stepwise comparison of the reaction free energies, and it allows the continuous calculation of the change of the metal, slag, and gas composition throughout the duration of the VOD process. Fine tuning of a limited number of model parameters is sufficient to simulate an industrial VOD process. The calculated final metal composition and temperature are in reasonable agreement with the production data. The influence of oxygen flow rate, vacuum pressure, and argon flow rate on process characteristics was analyzed and suggestions are made for improving the processing conditions.