The interest of gaining on-line information related to non-metallic inclusions during the steelmaking process has recently increased due to the development as well as the promising results of the Pulse Distribution Analysis with Optical Emission Spectroscopy method (PDA/OES). Even though, the time from sampling to presented results on inclusions is only about 5-10 minutes, the method has also shown limitations with respect to the determination of some inclusion characteristics. Therefore, a first step was to perform a study on other methods such as the cross-section method (CS) on a polished sample surface, the cross-section after etching method (CSE), the bromine-methanol extraction method (BME), and the electrolytic extraction method (EE). This study focused on the evaluation of these methods with respect to the time consumption for preparation and analysis of a sample, the analyzed volume and the determination of inclusion and cluster characteristics such as size, number, particle size distribution (PSD) and composition. The CS and CSE methods were found to be suitable in the determination of the largest cluster in a sample which can be recommended in order to select proper extraction parameters for further studies. The BME method was considered to be fast with the possibility of analyzing a large volume. However, the used solution is chemically stronger compared to electrolytic extraction solutions, which can affect the results. In most aspects, the EE method was found to be the most stable, reliable and accurate method with some limitations regarding the time aspect. Based on this conclusion, the EE method was selected for a comparative study with the PDA/OES method. Reliably detected size ranges by using the PDA/OES method were defined for two low-alloyed steel grades. These are 2.0-5.7 μm and 1.4-5.7 μm for steel samples taken before and after a Ca-addition during the secondary steelmaking, respectively. Moreover, agreements between the EE and PDA/OES methods were observed in the average size and number of detected inclusions when only inclusions with the size &gt; 2 μm were considered. Also, a theoretical minimum size and a maximum number ofinclusions present in the steel sample, which can be detected by using the PDA/OES method, were estimated. The work continued by successfully applying the EE method to study correlations between inclusions observed in the liquid steel samples and in a clogged nozzle (clogging material). It was found that the average sizes of spherical and non-spherical inclusions observed in the steel corresponded well with those observed in the clogging material. However, there were some differences in the frequencies of these inclusions. This was explained by a possible transformation of the present inclusions due to a reoxidation and a reaction with the nozzle refractory of the steel melt. The results of this study may contribute in the selection of proper process parameters or inclusion characteristics for future studies on the improvement and application of on-line methods. Finally, suggestions on how to present and interpret data obtained by the PDA/OES method during production of stainless steels were given in the present thesis. More specifically, the possibilities of defining operating windows with respect to inclusion composition and the use of a B-factor for Al (the total content of Al in inclusions detected by using the PDA/OES method) during the secondary steelmaking were discussed. In addition, a correlation study between B-factors for Al and numbers of inclusions (dV &gt; 4 μm) obtained by using the PDA/OES method on process samples, and corresponding slivers indices from plate products was performed. The results showed a moderate correlation between these parameters as well as an increase of the slivers index with increased values of the chosen PDA/OES data. This indicates that it could be possible to predict when there is an increased risk of having slivers on the final rolled product at an early stage of the steelmaking process. / <p>QC 20150525</p>

In this study it was aimed to analyse refining processes such as decreasing reducible oxide content of ladle slag with affecting parameters in low carbon aluminum killed grades and for the research Erdemir low carbon steel grades 7112K and 7110K are selected. There was a negative correlation between reducible oxide amount in ladle slag and desulphurization capacity of ladle slag with metal-slag reaction and steel internal cleanliness. To refine these properties of slag, aluminium dross, which was aluminium production discard and has a metallic content around %30-35 was used and after ladle treatment operation, decrease in reducible oxides such as FetO, MnO, SiO2, P2O5 was analysed. After the study it was observed that 653 kg. of converter slag leaked during tapping of steel and SiO2 ve P2O5 content of ladle slag had negligible change after ladle treatment. According to the results, it is observed that initial %10-12 (FetO + MnO) content was reduced to % 4.5-5.0 (FetO + MnO) after ladle treatment with use of aluminium dross. Beside of this, in order to see the effect of this slag reduction on steel cleanliness, low carbon aluminium killed grades were compared with ultra-low carbon aluminium killed grades having (FetO + MnO) content of %16-17 in slag. It was seen that reoxidation of aluminium (loss of dissolved aluminium) during continuous casting for ULC (ultra-low carbon) gradesis 144 ppm but for LC grades it was 94 ppm and it was being expected that ULC steel group would have higher inclusion content after casting.

In gas stirred steelmaking ladles, entrainment of slag into metal and vice versa takes place. The slag entrainment has been shown to abruptly increase the mass transfer rates of refining reactions through high temperature and water modeling studies of the past. However such an effect has not been correlated with the degree of entrainment, since the latter has not been quantified in terms of operating parameters like gas injection rate and fluid properties. Much of the past works are limited to finding the critical conditions for onset of entrainment. The difficulty lies in measuring the degree of entrainment in industrial ladles or even in a water model. Mathematical modeling is also challenging due to the complexity of the multiphase phenomena. So in this thesis, a modular mathematical modeling approach is presented wherein the phenomena of slag entrainment into metal is resolved into four aspects, models developed for each and finally integrated to study its role. The individual models are (1) multiphase large eddy simulations to simulate slag entrainment in a narrow domain that receives its boundary conditions from (2) single phase RANS simulation of a full ladle, (3) a Lagrangian particle tracking method to compute the residence times of slag droplets in metal phase and (4) a kinetic model that integrates the above three models to compute mass transfer rate as a function of degree of entrainment. Mass transfer rate predictions comparable to a literature correlation were obtained. This supports the modeling approach and also the assessment of role of various system parameters on entrainment characteristics. In essence, the present work shows a systematic approach to model and study the complex multiphase phenomena. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The entrainment of liquid slag into liquid steel in gas stirred-steelmaking ladles is known to increase the rate of refining drastically. However, there is lack of correlation between degree of entrainment and ladle operating conditions, which this thesis addresses through mathematical modeling.