The influence of MgO/ZrO2/Al2O3 refractories on the refining process of Ti-containing steel based on kinetic study

Abstract

Ti-containing steel is widely used in various industries, and its refining process has a significant impact on performance. The influences of refractories on the refining process were studied by the interaction between refining slag and Ti-containing steel in this paper. During the refining process with MgO and ZrO2 crucible, the content of MgO and ZrO2 in the refining slag respectively increase, and they also appear in the inclusions. MgO refractory can promote the reaction between CaO in slag and molten steel, but Al2O3 and ZrO2 refractories cannot. Al2O3 refractory significantly increases the Al2O3 content oin the inclusions by affecting the slag-metal-inclusion reaction. A kinetic model for simulating the reaction of the refractory-slag-metal-inclusion system was established, and it can be applied to predict the composition variations of the slag, the steel, and the inclusions during the refining process. According to the model and experimental results, it is obvious that MgO, Al2O3 and ZrO2 refractories have different mass transfer with refining slag. The mass transfer coefficients of all three refractories were obtained in current research (kMgO = 1.0 × 10-4 m/s, kAl2O3 = 2.0 × 10-4 m/s and kZrO2 = 1.1 × 10-4 m/s).