Effect of Wettability, Number of Liquid Phases, and Agitation Procedure on Agglomeration/Breakup/Transfer of Fine Particles in Liquid

Abstract

To discuss non‐metallic inclusion behaviors in a secondary refining process, cold model experiments on agglomeration, breakup, and transfer of fine particles were performed varying the operating factors such as an energy input rate, wettability, agitation practice, and number of liquid phases. When the other operating conditions were the same, the agglomeration rate of the 1‐particle (isolated particle) with a hydrophobic property was larger than that with a hydrophilic one, and the transfer rate of the 2‐particle (cluster of 2 isolated particles) had the same tendency. The number of the 1‐particle with the hydrophobicity was estimated to increase at the transfer site of the particles from an open eye to a heavy liquid due to a bubble breakup, whereas the 1‐particle with the hydrophilicity showed an opposite trend because of less adhesion on the bubbles. The 1‐particle in the dual phase transferred from the open eye spot to a light liquid, although the value was not so much as that of the decrease in the agglomeration. A transfer condition of the inclusion composed of Al2O3 or slag (CaO·Al2O3) was calculated when a particle contacts with solid/liquid interface, and the CaO·Al2O3 inclusion was estimated to be engulfed above 3.34 μm in diameter.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Physical Model of Inclusions Removal at Static Steel–Slag Interface

“…Meanwhile the liquid level height was 25 cm in the research of Ferchichi and Duval [56], and their study fluid was glycerol and silicone oil. The liquid level height in water-oil systems were 32 cm in the study by Zhou et al [59], 40 cm in the study by Zhu et al [60], and 20 cm in study by Nishibata et al [61], respectively. The even lower height is not considered in this study and could be studied in a future work.…”

“…The viscosity of silicone oil used in this experiment is 0.048 Pa•s and 0.096 Pa•s, which can satisfy the requirements of similar dynamic viscosity. In addition, the oil viscosity in the studies are 0.023 and 0.072 Pa•s by Liu et al [57]; 0.0027, 0.0592, and 0.2737 Pa•s by Zhou et al [59]; 0.00648 Pa•s by Zhu et al [60]; and 0.0018 Pa•s by Nishibata et al [61], respectively.…”

“…The physical models are mainly based on the similarity principle, using appropriate material to simulate liquid steel, molten slag, and inclusions and recording the floating of "inclusions" and the movement process at the "slag-steel" interface to study the movement behavior of inclusions in reality [56][57][58][59][60][61]. The water model study on inclusion movement at the interface can be dated back to the work by Ferchichi and Duval [56].…”

“…The cluster particles were fabricated by three-dimensional printing technology. Recently, Nishibata et al [61] performed a comprehensive water model to study the particle agglomeration breakup and engulfment at the steel-slag interface. The hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) particles were used to study two kinds of inclusions.…”