Development of Submerged Entry Nozzles that Resist Clogging

Accretion formation and the associated clogging of SENs is a major problem for the steel industry leading to decreased strand speed, premature changing of SENs or strand termination and the associated reductions in productivity, consistency, and steel quality. A program to evaluate potentially clog resistance materials was initiated at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The main objective of the research effort was to identify combinations of steelmaking and refractory practices that would yield improved accretion resistance for tundish nozzles and submerged entry nozzles. A number of tasks were identified during the initial kick-off meeting and each was completed with two exceptions, the thermal shock validation and the industrial trials. Not completing these two tasks related to not having access to industrial scale production facilities. Though much of the results and information generated in the project is of proprietary nature