A produção mundial de aço inoxidável nos últimos anos teve o maior crescimento dentre os principais metais usados na indústria. É notável a importância dos processos industriais dos aços inoxidáveis devido ao contínuo desenvolvimento desses materiais, em busca de uma melhor qualidade, com menores custos de produção e de forma sustentável. Uma das formas de obtenção do aço inoxidável é através do processo VOD, que consiste em remover o carbono do aço pela a injeção de oxigênio e reduzindo a pressão parcial do gás (CO) através da aplicação de vácuo. A primeira etapa desse processo é o sopro de oxigênio, onde é importante controlar a pressão do sistema de maneira a promover a menor oxidação do cromo sem ocorrência de transbordamentos de aço e excesso de \"splash\". Atualmente, existem diversas práticas de operação no VOD em que se tem uma redução contínua da pressão de vácuo em conjunto com alterações de outras variáveis durante o sopro de oxigênio, de forma a controlar a reação de descarburação sem perder em excesso, o cromo. O objetivo desse trabalho foi encontrar o tempo de sopro de oxigênio em função do carbono inicial para cada corrida, a partir do qual seja possível reduzir a pressão de vácuo sem causar danos ao processo. Isso porque a geometria da panela e o teor de carbono inicial empregados na Villares Metals S.A. possuem características distintas em comparação com outras plantas, que faz com que seu processo de descarburação seja singular. Nos resultados obtidos é possível confirmar que, operando com pressões de vácuo mais baixas durante o sopro de oxigênio, pode-se evitar perdas desnecessárias de cromo. Além disso, a relação encontrada entre o tempo de sopro e o carbono inicial através de uma equação cinética, pode ser utilizada na determinação do tempo aproximado para redução da pressão de vácuo para cada corrida. Assim se terá uma operação de descarburação mais eficiente em relação à oxidação dos elementos de liga e redução do consumo de oxigênio, de redutores e do tempo de processo, com segurança e economia. / The stainless steel melt shop production growth in the last years was the biggest comparing to the other important metals in the industry. It is noticeable the importance of the stainless industrial process due to its continuous development in order to seek better quality with lower costs and sustainable methods. One of the possibilities to produce stainless is by VOD process, which consists to remove the carbon content by oxygen injection and reducing the partial pressure of (CO) gas through vacuum application. Oxygen blowing is the first step of this process, where it is important to control the chamber pressure in order to avoid the chromium oxidation without steel overflow and excessive splash during process. Currently, different operation practices in the VOD have been applied reducing continuously the vacuum pressure simultaneously with other parameters during oxygen blowing, in the interest of controlling the decarburization reaction avoiding the loss of chromium. The objective of this study was to find the oxygen blowing time according to the initial carbon content for each heat, from which it is possible to reduce the vacuum pressure avoiding damages to the process. The reason of this is due to the ladle geometry and the initial carbon content applied on the Villares Metals process have special characteristics comparing to other plants, which make its process singular. On the results achieved, it is possible to confirm that, operating in lower vacuum pressure during oxygen blowing, it is possible to avoid unnecessary chromium losses. Moreover, the ratio found out between the blowing time and the initial carbon content through a kinetic equation, can be applied to determine the estimated time to reduce the vacuum pressure for each heat. Therefore, the decarburization process will be more efficient according to the alloy oxidation and save the oxygen consumption, deoxidizers and process time, with safe and reducing cost.

The work deals with the investigation of the effects of vacuum degassing and decarburization in high alloyed stainless steel. The reason for this is to increase corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. The theoretical part is devoted to the analysis of options to reduce carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and manganese at atmospheric pressure and in vacuum. In experimental part there is the description of melting, calculation of conditions facilitating reduction of oxide inclusions as a function of the gas pressure in the furnace and the evaluation of the influence of vacuum on the content reduction of carbon, nitrogen and manganese.

This master´s thesis deals with theoretical study of decarburization of austenitic steels. Mathematical model, which analyse numerical calculations, was compared with experiments. Obtained results were discussed considering validity of model and performed aproximations.

Stainless steel family grades are very famous for their combined corrosion resistance and high mechanical properties. These properties can be improved further by decreasing the content of impurities like carbon and oxygen. The main purpose of this research work is to study the possibility of stainless steel powder decarburization by vacuum annealing. The influence of different process parameters like treatment time, temperature, fraction size and depth of the powder layer on the decarburization process was analyzed. The investigation results showed that it is possible to achieve extra low values of carbon and oxygen in steel powder by processing it with optimum process parameters.

Manganese is an essential alloying element in the 2nd and 3rd generation of Advanced High Strength steels (AHSS) containing 5 to 25% manganese. A combination of excellent strength and ductility makes these grades of steel attractive for the automotive industry. To produce these steels to meet metallurgical requirements the main concern for the steelmakers is to decrease the carbon concentration as low as 0.1% while suppressing the excessive manganese losses at high temperatures. Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) is a promising candidate for the refining of high manganese steels. This work has studied the kinetics of decarburization and manganese losses during the argon oxygen bubbling into a wide range of iron-manganese-carbon alloys. It was shown that decreasing the initial carbon content increased the manganese loss. In the competition between manganese and carbon for oxygen, alloys with lower initial manganese concentrations consumed a higher portion of oxygen for decarburization. This behavior was not expected by thermodynamics and the results did not support the concept of the critical carbon content either. It was demonstrated that for lower range carbon (≤0.42%) alloys, the total manganese loss can be explained by considering multiple mechanisms in parallel; oxide formation (MnO) and vapor formation (Mn (g)), and formation of Manganese mist by evaporation-condensation (Mn (l)). The evaporation-condensation mechanism was proposed with the assumption that the heat generated from MnO and CO formation increases the temperature at the surface of the bubble which facilitates the evaporation of manganese at a high vapor pressure. Consequently, manganese vapor condenses as fine droplets at the lower temperature inside the bubble. Although dilution of oxygen with argon increased the efficiency of oxygen for decarburization as expected from the mechanism of the AOD process, manganese loss did not stop completely at higher argon concentrations in the gas mixture. Therefore, the bubble and melt do not fully equilibrate with respect to Mn and C. For high carbon alloys (1%), there was excess oxygen after accounting for CO and MnO formation. According to mass balance and thermodynamic calculations, and assuming manganese loss by evaporation was negligible it was shown that oxygen was distributed amongst MnO, FeO, CO, and CO2. It was demonstrated that increasing temperature resulted in the higher manganese loss as a mist and by simple evaporation due to the increased vapor pressure and less manganese loss by oxidation. Furthermore, it was found that the rate of decarburization increased with increasing temperature due to more partitioning of oxygen to carbon than manganese. In addition, it was found that the variations of depth of lance submergence did not affect the rate of decarburization or manganese loss. This means that the reactions occur within such a short time that prolonged time after the reaction is completed does not lead to a repartitioning of the species. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The slag metal emulsion may play a significant role in the global furnace decarburization kinetics in oxygen steelmaking. In recent years, the important interaction between droplet generation rate, droplet residence time in slag and droplet decarburization rate has become more evident in the literature. The decarburization kinetics of Fe-C-S droplets in CaO-SiO2-MgO-FeO slags were investigated for highercarbon droplets (approximately 4.2 % C). The effect of slag FeO, droplet mass and Sulphur content on decarburization rate were evaluated. The limit between external and internal nucleation of CO gas was investigated. A model was developed for prediction oftime to the onset of carbon boil.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

In this study, the goal is to optimize the process and to reduce the clogging tendency during the continuous casting process. The focus is on clogging when the refractory base material (RBM) in the SEN is in contact with the liquid steel. It is difficult or impossible to avoid non-metallic inclusions in the liquid steel, but by a selection of a good RBM in the SEN clogging can be reduced.   Different process steps were evaluated during the casting process in order to reduce the clogging tendency. First, the preheating of the SEN was studied. The results showed that the SEN can be decarburized during the preheating process. In addition, decarburization of SEN causes a larger risk for clogging. Two types of plasma coatings were implemented to protect the RBM, to prevent reactions with the RBM, and to reduce the clogging tendency. Calcium titanate (CaTiO3) mixed with yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) plasma coatings were tested in laboratory and pilot plant trials, for casting of aluminium-killed low-carbon steels. For casting of cerium alloyed stainless steels, YSZ plasma coatings were tested in laboratory, pilot plant and industrial trials. The results showed that the clogging tendency was reduced when implementing both coating materials.   It is also of importance to produce clean steel in order to reduce clogging. Therefore, the steel cleanliness in the tundish was studied experimentally. The result showed that inclusions originated from the slag, deoxidation products and tundish refractory and that they were present in the tundish as well as in the final steel product. / <p>QC 20170227</p> / VINNOVA

Ultra-high strength steels is known to be susceptible for hydrogen embrittlement at very low concentrations of hydrogen. In this thesis three methods to prevent or reduce the hydrogen embrittlement in martensitic steel, with tensile strength of 1500 MPa, were studied. First, a barrier layer of aluminium designed to prevent hydrogen to enter the steel, which were deposited by vacuum evaporation. Second, a decarburization process of the steels surface designed to mitigate the induced stresses from cutting. Last, a hydrogen relief treatment at 150°C for 11 days and 200°C for 4 days, to reduce the hydrogen concentration in the steel. The effect of the hydrogen embrittlement was analyzed by manual measurements of the elongations after a slow strain rate testing at 5*10-6 mm/s, and the time to fracture in an in-situ constant load test with a current density of 1.92 mA/cm2 in a 0.5 M Na2SO4 solution. The barrier layer showed an increase in time to fracture, but also a decrease in elongations. The decarburized steel had a small increase in the time to fracture, but not enough to make it a feasible process. The hydrogen relief treatment showed a general decrease in hydrogen concentrations, but the elongation measurements was irregular although with a tendency for improvement. The simplicity of the hydrogen relief treatment makes it an interesting process to reduce the influence of hydrogen embrittlement. However, more investigations are necessary.

The submerged entry nozzle (SEN) has been used to transport the molten steel from tundish to the mould. The main purpose of the SEN usage is both to prevent oxygen and nitrogen pick-up by molten steel and to achieve the desired flow condition in the mould. Therefore, the SEN can be considered as a vital factor for a stable casting process and the steel quality. Furthermore, the steelmaking processes occur at high temperatures around 1873 K so the interaction between the refractory materials of the SEN and molten steel is unavoidable. Therefore, the knowledge of the SEN behaviors during pre-heating and casting is necessary for the design of the steelmaking processes. The internal surfaces of modern SENs are coated with a glass/silicon powder layer to prevent the SEN graphite oxidation during pre-heating. The effects of the interaction between the coating layer and the SEN base refractory materials on clogging were studied in supplement 1. The results of the study indicated the penetration of the formed alkaline-rich glaze into the Alumina/graphite base refractory during pre-heating. More specifically, the alkaline-rich glaze reacts with graphite to form carbon monoxide gas. Thereafter, dissociation of CO at the SEN/molten metal interface takes place. This leads to reoxidation of dissolved REM (Rare Earth Metal), which form the “In Situ” REM oxides at the interface between the SEN and the REM alloyed molten steel. Also, the interaction of the penetrated glaze with alumina in the SEN base refractory materials leads to a formation of a high-viscous alumina-rich glaze during the SEN pre-heating process. This in turn, creates a very uneven surface at the SEN internal surface. The “In Situ” formation of the REM oxides together with the uneven internal surface of the SEN may facilitate the accumulation of the primary inclusions. Supplement 1 revealed the disadvantages of the glass/silicon powder layer. On the other hand the carbon oxidation is a main industrial problem for un-coated Alumina/Graphite Submerged Entry Nozzles (SEN) during pre-heating. This led to the proposal of a new refractory material for the SEN. In supplement 2, the effect of ZrSi2 antioxidant and the coexistence of antioxidant additive and (4B2O3 ·BaO) glass powder on carbon oxidation were investigated at simulated non-isothermal heating conditions in a  controlled atmosphere. Also, the effect of ZrSi2 antioxidant on carbon oxidation was investigated at isothermal temperatures at 1473 K and 1773 K. The specimens’ weight losses and temperatures were plotted versus time and compared to each others. The thickness of the oxide areas were measured and also examined using XRD, FEG-SEM and EDS. The coexistence of 8 wt% ZrSi2 and 15 wt% (4B2O3 ·BaO) glass powder of the total alumina/Graphite base refractory materials, presented the most effective resistance to carbon oxidation. The 121% volume expansion due to the Zircon formation during heating and filling up the open pores by (4B2O3 ·BaO) glaze during green body sintering led to an excellent carbon oxidation resistance. In supplement 3, decarburization behaviors of Al2O3-C, ZrO2-C and MgO-C refractory materials constituting a commercial Submerged Entry Nozzle (SEN), have been investigated in different gas atmosphere consisting of CO2, O2 and Ar. The (CO2/O2) ratio values were kept the same as it is in propane combustion flue gas at Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) values equal to 1.5 and 1 for both Air-fuel and Oxygen-fuel combustions. Laboratory experiments were carried out non-isothermally in the temperature range 873 K to 1473 K at 15 K/min followed by isothermal heating at 1473 K for 60 min. The decarburization ratio (α) values of the three refractory types were determined by measuring the weight losses of the samples. The results showed that the decarburization ratio (α) values of the MgO-C refractory became 3.1 times higher for oxygen-fuel combustion compared to air-fuel combustion both at AFR equal to 1.5 in the temperature range 873 K to 1473 K. The decarburization ratio (α) values for Al2O3-C samples were the same as for the isothermal heating at 1473 K and non-isothermal heating in the temperature range 473  to 1773 K with a 15 K/min heating rate. It substantiates the SEN preheating advantage at higher temperatures for shorter holding times instead of heating at lower temperatures for longer holding times. Jander’s diffusion model was proposed for estimating the decarburization rate of Al2O3-C refractory in the SEN. The activation energy for Al2O3-C samples heated at AFR equal to 1.5, for air-fuel and oxygen-fuel combustions were found to be 84.5 KJ/mol and 95.5 KJ/mol respectively during non-isothermal heating in the temperature range 873 K to 1473 K. / QC 20101008