Review and planning of experiments with steel and slag in laboratory furnace

During the steel secondary refining, the elimination of impurities, adjustment of the chemical composition and adjustment of the temperature of the liquid steel occurs. The removal of non-metallic inclusions usually occurs in this step, being performed by the slag. In this work, a planning of laboratory experiments was defined so that in a second stage, the obtained knowledge can be compared with previous studies and transferred to the industrial practice. First, a review of the literature about experiments carried out in laboratory furnaces with samples with steel and slag in studies focused on the removal and/or modification of inclusions was done. Then, two experimental tests were conducted to validate the configuration adopted in the first part of this work. In the optimized experimental arrangement, the experiments will be performed in a resistive furnace with protective atmosphere granted by argon passage. The samples will be melted in MgO crucibles at 1600 °C and maintained by 90 min at this temperature to reach the thermodynamic equilibrium. The samples will be cooled with water and then prepared for future analyses. The review showed a promising experimental arrangement that will be used as a standard for steel and slag studies carried out in the Ironmaking and Steelmaking Laboratory, at UFRGS. In relation to the experimental tests, the results found agreed with the literature and thus, the experimental arrangement for future studies was validated. The future experiments will be done in order to achieve the optimized arrangement.