Model of Inclusion Evolution During Calcium Treatment in the Ladle Furnace

Calcium treatment of steel is typically employed to modify alumina inclusions to liquid calcium aluminates. However, injected calcium also reacts with the dissolved sulfur to form calcium sulfide. The current work aims to develop a kinetic model for the evolution of oxide and sulfide inclusions in Al-killed alloyed steel during Ca treatment in the ladle refining process. The model considers dissolution of the calcium from the calcium bubbles into the steel and reduction of calcium oxide in the slag to dissolved calcium. A steel–inclusion kinetic model is used for mass transfer to the inclusion interface and diffusion within the calcium aluminate phases formed on the inclusion. The inclusion–steel kinetic model is then coupled with a previously developed steel–slag kinetic model. The coupled inclusion–steel–slag kinetic model is applied to the chemical composition changes in molten steel, slag, and evolution of inclusions in the ladle. The result of calculations is found to agree well with an industrial heat for species in the steel as well as inclusions during Ca treatment.