Regular Article

Investigation on the control of multiphase flow behavior in a continuous casting tundish during ladle change

¹ School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, Anhui, PR China
² National Engineering and Research Center for Continuous Casting Technology, Center Iron and Steel Institute, Beijing 100081, PR China

^* e-mail: lhtustb@163.com

Received: 22 May 2020
Accepted: 28 September 2020

Abstract

The transient multiphase flow behavior in a single-strand tundish during ladle change was studied using physical modeling. The water and silicon oil were employed to simulate the liquid steel and slag. The effect of the turbulence inhibitor on the slag entrainment and the steel exposure during ladle change were evaluated and discussed. The effect of the slag carry-over on the water-oil-air flow was also analyzed. For the original tundish, the top oil phase in the impact zone was continuously dragged into the tundish bath and opened during ladle change, forming an emulsification phenomenon. By decreasing the liquid velocities in the upper part of the impact zone, the turbulence inhibitor decreased considerably the amount of entrained slag and the steel exposure during ladle change, thereby eliminating the emulsification phenomenon. Furthermore, the use of the TI-2 effectively lowered the effect of the slag carry-over on the steel cleanliness by controlling the movement of slag droplets. The results from industrial trials indicated that the application of the TI-2 reduced considerably the number of linear inclusions caused by ladle change in hot-rolled strip coils.