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Control of Ejections Caused by Bubble Bursting in Steelmaking Processes
Author(s) -
Müller Klaus T.,
Holappa Lauri,
Neuschütz Dieter
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
steel research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.603
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1869-344X
pISSN - 1611-3683
DOI - 10.1002/srin.200300162
Subject(s) - steelmaking , bubble , materials science , jet (fluid) , metallurgy , turbulence , liquid bubble , mechanics , physics
To investigate the ejection of liquid steel and slag from gas‐stirred melts in view of minimum formation of dusts and accretions, studies were performed combining laboratory experiments on single bubble/melt interactions with bench‐scale tests on 150 kg heats and with observations in metallurgical production facilities. Fine droplets are created when single bubbles burst on the melt surface or on the surface of bigger drops to form film (< 20 mm) and jet (0.1‐2 mm) droplets. At gas exit velocities of ≥ 0.1 m/s, gas flow tends to become turbulent leading to the ejection of splashes > 2 mm. In secondary metallurgy, the gas throughput is relatively small keeping the amount of small droplets (dust) low. On the other hand, the conditions for splashing are frequently met, and splashing is in fact observed in practice. An explanation model for the mechanisms of dust generation in the BOF process is derived from the lab results.