The Principles of Gas and Powder Injection for Iron Refining

Powder injection techniques have been widely adopted in the steel industry for economically carrying out ladle metallurgy operations such as desulfurization, dephosphorization and alloying. However, in general, the foundry industry has not fully utilized this technology. One of the obstacles to this has been the lack of understanding of the physical and chemical phenomena which occur during powder injection. In this paper, a number of studies incorporating physical and mathematical modelling of injection as well as large scale studies of calcium carbide injection into iron are summarized. These studies may provide a basis for the design of powder injection processes to reduce operating costs and improve quality and consistency in the foundry industry.