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ABSTRACT
Steel deoxidation is indispensable for the steelmaking process, in order to avoid steel defects such as inclusions and
blowholes forming during solidification. There are several deoxidation methods applied in steelmaking companies. The
primary targets of this work are increasing deoxidation efficiency, decreasing deoxidation agents and enhancing steel
cleanliness. In order to define the ideal deoxidation practice at the Erdemir steelmaking plant, the design of experiment
(DOE) method was used. By this model, the parameters affecting the final aluminum and steel cleanliness were determined.
INTRODUCTION
With the progressing technology, the steelmakers are striving to improve productivity and final steel quality. However, in
today’s world that phenomena becomes insufficient due to the survival conditions. Depending on the decrease of steel prices,
every steel producers are trying to reduce operational and material costs. Steel deoxidation process is one of the most critical
steps in liquid steel processing for target steel cleanliness and cost optimisation. During deoxidation and alloying practice, a
crucial challenge for the operators lies in minimizing the consumption of ferro-alloys so as to control the generation and
possibility of entrapment of non-metallic inclusions for the production of clean steel and to make the process economically
attractive. To control deoxidation process, there are several modelling and optimising studies; Kamaraj and his friends have
studied theoratically predicting the amount of deoxidizers required for a given steel composition by mathematical model. [1]
Harald and friends have focused on comprehensive parameter study which investigates alloy type, size, addition time, and
other parameters for simulating the alloying process by CFD method. [2]
DEOXIDATION FUNDAMENTALS
The aim of ideal deoxidation practices is preventing the CO gas formation during casting by binding free oxygen in liquid
steel and removing oxide inclusions which are formed in deoxidation during tapping and increasing the efficiency of
deoxidant materials. Generally three main deoxidation methods have been used during tapping the liquid steel; none - killed
steels, semi - killed steels and fully - killed steels. The none –killed (rimming) steels and semi – killed steels are not suitable
K (2)
G° = Free energy change for deoxidation reaction
[] = refers to dissolved elements in liquid Fe
a[Me] = activity of the metallic elements (a[Me] = fMe * %[Me]
fMe, fO is the activity coefficients of elements relative to the 1 wt% standart state Fe
aMexOy = activity of deoxidation product generally taken as 1 in solid state
If deoxdiation product is taken as (aMexOy) = 1:
a (5)
For the fix on steel composition at a spesific temperature, fMe , fO are constants and the equilibrium constant for each oxide
–forming elements can be calculated. Holappa has calculated the most common deoxidation reactions with their equilibrium
constants and their values are given in table 1 [3].
Table 1: Deoxidation Reactions, Equilibrium Constants, Their Values, and Solubility Products
By applying the equations and their numerical values in Table 2, the deoxidation diagram showing oxygen activity as a
function of the activity of the added element can be constructed. Such an activity diagram is presented in Figure 1.
When looked the distribution of measured soluble aluminum in the ladle furnace, the deoxidation process capability was
calculated 26%. In other words 17% of heats were measured less than lower limit and 53% of heats were measured more than
upper limit. For the ladle furnace practice, it is known and agreed on that the heats more than upper limit are not complicated
as much as the others.
21,7391
20
17,3913
15
Percent
10,8696
10
6,52174
5 4,34783
0
0,010 0,015 0,020 0,025 0,030 0,035 0,040 0,045 0,050
LF_1_AL
The amount of coke addition for pre – deoxidation,
The amount of carry over slag,
Aluminum addition time.
Figure 3: The regression model for aluminum addition during tapping of liquid steel.
On the purpose of investigating the all possibilities in deoxidation process, the upper and lower limit of the aluminum
addition regression model tolerance was determined as 20 kg interval.
The amount of coke addition: For the reduction in the consumption of deoxidant materials (aluminum, ferroalloys), the
metallurgical coke was utilized in the beginning of steel tapping. For specified steel grades the amount of coke addition can
be changed according to end blow carbon measurement. The C*O product of each converter can be altered with the bottom
stirring of them. Although for spesific steel grade according to target carbon level the metallurgical coke addition regression
model was calculated in plant metallurgical coke can be added the amount of 20 kg bag. Due to this reason for design of
experiment model, the coke addition amounts were defined 0 and 20 kg for each heat.
The carry over slag amount: In steelmaking plant during the tapping of liquid slag in order to preventing slag carry over,
infrared thermal camera and slag hammer system is used. On the results of former trials, the triggering limit of thermal
camera was 30%. Aydemir has tried to calculate carry over slag during tapping of liquid steel in his master thesis and
reported that it can be changed between 264 kg and 1148 kg [6]. For design of experiment model, the tolerance limits of
infrared camera were defined 10% and 30% kg for each heat. With that parameter, the effects of thermal camera tolerance
were investigated and analyzed.
Aluminum addition time: In current situation the aluminum addition time is defined as the 70 % of tapping duration. One of
the operators controls the flow and the height of the steel in ladle then he decides the optimum addition time. However, there
are some difficulties complicating the optimum addition time; occurred dusts, flames and mists in the air can restrict the
operator’s sight. In order to solving that problem, the tapping duration calculation model was calculated as shown in Figure 3.
In the calculation model the parameters affecting the tapping duration was investigated and the tapping hole life and slagging
of tapping hole were determined the most efficient factors for that model.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Tap Hole Life
Figure 5: The plot of tapping duration versus tap hole life. Tap hole life: The heat number of tap hole
The next step is designing of trials in order to control and increase the deoxidation process during tapping of liquid steel. As
seen in figure 6, the efficient parameters and change intervals were defined respectively;
Plant Trials by DOE Method: A “full factorial” design which studies the response of every combination of factors and
factor levels was composed. As seen in figure 6, the controllable input factors were determined and each factor is affecting
the output in two levels. An example trials list is given in table 3, for the reliability of DOE the trials were repeated for two
times. As an uncontrollable parameter the carbon oxygen product was evaluated.
Table 3: The trial results of heats which DOE method was applied.
Thermal Addition
Coke
Al Addition Cam. Time
StdOrder RunOrder CenterPt Blocks Addition LF_1_AL (%) C*O
(kg) Tolerance (Percent of
(kg)
(%) Heat)
1 1 1 1 132 0 10 50 0,012 34,077
2 2 1 1 172 0 10 50 0,019 28,726
3 3 1 1 132 20 10 50 0,025 16,72
4 4 1 1 172 20 10 50 0,021 15,77
5 5 1 1 132 0 30 50 0,0052 16,434
6 6 1 1 172 0 30 50 0,025 19,98
7 7 1 1 132 20 30 50 0,022 15,531
8 8 1 1 172 20 30 50 0,034 17,82
9 9 1 1 132 0 10 70 0,019 14,555
10 10 1 1 172 0 10 70 0,05 16,469
11 11 1 1 132 20 10 70 0,026 11,571
12 12 1 1 172 20 10 70 0,027 15,8
13 13 1 1 132 0 30 70 0,002 13,528
14 14 1 1 172 0 30 70 0,034 17,316
15 15 1 1 132 20 30 70 0,034 28,743
For the selected specific steel grades, the trial heats were planned and observed continuously, there were tremendous factors
affecting the design of experiment procedure such as granulated aluminum addition before the celox measurement in ladle
furnace and several sublance measurement problems before aluminum addition. Those heats were eliminated so as to prevent
data conflicts. During the converter process after the sublance measurement and level 2 model results, the operator defines
the aluminum and coke additions according to DOE model furthermore for optimum addition time with the tapping duration
calculation model level 2 sends a signal to co-operator for adding the additives. When ladle arrived in LF, after stirring few
minutes, the operator takes a celox measurement as soon as possible without adding any materials. Consequently the ladle
furnace first steel sample was taken into account for calculation of factorial analyses.
Pareto analyses was used visually identify the important effects and compare the relative magnitude of the various effects. As
seen in figure 8, the input effects A, BC, D, ABD, AB, ACD, B pareto bars are to the right of the vertical red line; therefore,
these bars represent statistically significant at the 5% level of significance. Although factor C seems insignificant, we could
not drop this term in the model due to the interactive effects of it. It was observed that the aluminum addition amount and
addition time of aluminum were the most efficient factors, proving the reasons for variability. The positive effects of coke
pre-deoxidation process stated in several studies but the interaction with thermal camera tolerance will be investigated in
future works separately. [9]
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Standardized Effect
Figure 8: Standardized Pareto Chart, showing the effects of the independent factors on the final objective. A: Aluminum
addition, B: Coke Addition, C: Thermal Cam. Tol., D: Addition Time
With the pie chart graph each category proportion in the data is represented. The pie was divided into slices, with each slice
representing a category of data. By comparing and contrasting the size of the slices, the relative magnitude of each category
was assessed. According to pie chart of data aluminum addition input factor affects the output with the ratio of 30,.1% then
the second efficient factor was the interacted effect of coke addition and thermal cam tolerance.
14,3%
0,9%
7,9% 2,2%
2,1%
9,2%
Validations via FactsageR Model: Validations via thermodynamic calculation software FactSage 6.4: According to design
of experiment model results, there is not seen remarkable effect of thermal camera. Due to control and strength that results,
Calculated
Thermal Addition ENB O
Grade LF_1_Al Carry-over
Cam.Tol. Time (PPM)
Slag(Kg)
CONCLUSIONS
The design of experiment (DOE) method was used in order to define the ideal deoxidation practice at the Erdemir
steelmaking plant and the parameters affecting the final aluminum and steel cleanliness were determined. The following
results were obtained;
(1) An amount of aluminum addition in tapping, the amount of coke addition for pre – deoxidation, the amount of carry
over slag and aluminum addition time are defined as factors which are affecting deoxidation process efficiency.
(2) As an input effects; aluminum addition, coke addition and aluminum addition time and their interacted effects are
observed statistically significant at the 5% level of significance.
(3) The mathematical regression model for calculating the target aluminum level was set and applied for validation
during an accounting period.
(4) The heats below the target level of aluminum in LF measurement decreased from the ratio of 28% to 18%.
(5) The heats in the target level of aluminum in LF measurement increased from the ratio of 53% to 64%.
(6) Aluminum consumption amount for selected steel grades was decreased from the level of 195 kg/heat to 190
kg/heat.
(7) Via using the DOE model the average of LF_1_Al measurements is 314 ppm however with the normal practice the
average is 277 ppm. According to calculations the average aluminum content of steel in the beginning of ladle
furnace is 5 kg more than general deoxidation practice.
(8) The aluminum consumption saving is 0,.083 kg/ton liquid steel.
21,8659
20 20 18,1818
14,8688
13,6364
10 10
4,54545
3,207
0 0
0,000 0,015 0,030 0,045 0,060 0,075
Figure 9: The histogram of LF_1_Al for the heats with DOE model and general application.
(9) With optimizing the addition time and efficient utilization of deoxidants the average of LF_1_Al measurements
were increased from 0,.0277% to 0,.0314%.
REFERENCES
1. Ashok, K., Mandal, GK., Bandyopadhyay, D., Theoretical Investigation on Deoxidation of Liquid Steel for Fe–Al–
Si–O System, Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals 68 (1), 9-18, 2015
2. Laux, H., Johansen, S. T., Berg, H. and Klevan, O. S., CFD Analysıs Of The Turbulent Flow In Ladels And The
Alloyıng Process Durıng Tappıng Of Steel Furnaces, 2000.
3. Holappa, L., Secondary Steelmaking, Treatise on Process Metallurgy: Industrial Processes Volume 3. P. 301–345,
2014.
4. Yang, W., Wang, X., Zhang, L., Cleanliness of Low Carbon Aluminum-Killed Steels during Secondary Refining
Processes, Steel Research International, 2013.
5. Zhang, L., Thomas, BG., State of the art in the control of inclusions during steel ingot casting, Metallurgıcal And
Materıals Transactıons B, Volume 37b, 2006.
6. Aydemir, O., Use Of Alumınıum Dross For Slag Treatment In Secondary Steelmakıng To Decrease Amount Of
Reducıble Oxıdes In Ladle Furnace, Master thesis, Middle East Technical University, 2007.
7. Lehmann, J., Unamuna, I., Senk, D., Diaz, A.M., Di Donato, A., Deoxidation practice and slag ability to trapnon-
metallic inclusions and their influence on castability and steel cleanliness, Technical Steel Research, European
Commissions, 2008
8. Beins, B. (2006). Research Methods (PAYC 308) Fall 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2007 from
http://www.ithaca.edu/beins/methods/statistics/cogdis-interaction.htm#maineffects
9. Kloppers, C., Fedotova, T., Primary De-Oxidation Of Basic Oxygen Furnace Steel By Means Of Carbon, 2001.