Toward integrated ladle metallurgy control

This appears to be the first time that a process model has been developed to successfully reproduce the kinetics of coupled slag-metal reactions within an industrial LMF, assuming that the rates were mixed-transport controlled. Key conclusions include: The sampling practice employed in this study proved effective in isolating the differences between process events: (i) low argon flow-rate with arcs off, (ii) low argon flowrate with arcs on and (iii) high argon flowrate with arcs off. Dissolved oxygen contents decreased in a step-wise manner immediately after deoxidation. Preliminary inclusion analysis results indicate that deoxidation products undergo transformation from pure alumina to spinel and less likely to calcium aluminates.Measured bulk sulfur partition coefficients were observed to be dependent on slag FeO content. A comparative analysis of three different methods used to calculate the sulfur partition ratio revealed widely different results. Future work is aimed at reconciling these differences. The mass transfer capacity coefficient for sulfur was found to increase with stirring power in proportion to ε^1.4. The relation was found accurate in describing desulfurization during all process events. Electrical heating appears to have a significant influence on the oxygen potential within the melt. Work is ongoing to define the impact of electrical heating reoxidation on refining practices (i.e., sulfur reversion).