Study on the Separation Process of Non-Metallic Inclusions at the Steel-Slag Interface Using Water Modeling Under Static and Dynamic Conditions

Abstract

Effective inclusion removal is essential for making high-quality steel. The inclusion separation into the slag involved a step of flow across the slag-steel interface in the steelmaking process. This research study examines how polypropylene (PP) and hollow Al₂O₃ particles float in water and oil interface to simulate the inclusion floating process. Both static and dynamic (with water flow) conditions are studied. The movement of particles of various sizes and densities in a rectangular acrylic container are recorded by a high-speed camera setup. The experiment utilized water, silicone oil, and particles of varying sizes and densities to investigate the impact of physical properties on floating dynamics. Results demonstrated that under high viscosity conditions, particles were unable to cross the water-oil interface, despite having reduced densities. However, due to their lower viscosity, PP particles were able to float on top of the silicone oil. Using silicone oil with a viscosity of 0.0288 Pa·s, 3.96 mm PP particles displaced 70% of dimensionless displacement, whereas 3.93 mm hollow Al₂O₃ particles displaced 100% of dimensionless displacement. Dynamic measurements revealed that larger 3.9 mm Al₂O₃ particles moved 75% of dimensionless displacement in 0.2 s, compared to 65% of dimensionless displacement for smaller 3.1 mm Al₂O₃ particles. The terminal velocities of 3.93 mm Al₂O₃ particles were 0.143 m/s and 3.12 mm particles were 0.135 m/s. This study allows steelmakers to improve the process and assure better separation of inclusions, resulting in stronger, more reliable steel products.

Received: 8 August 2024 | Revised: 2 December 2024 | Accepted: 27 December 2024

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contribution Statement

Sajjad Muhammad: Investigation, Writing – original draft. Xin Tao: Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Dekang Ren: Data curation, Visualization. Hongyu Zhang: Software, Validation, Investigation. Tao Liu: Software, Investigation, Data curation. Chao Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration.