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Activities in Specific Research Areas
Research Program | Industrial
Members | Activities in Specific Research Areas
1. Ironmaking
- The Role of Volatiles on Iron Reduction – The goal
is to elucidate the effect of volatiles in coal on the reduction of iron as
relevant to the direct reduction processes. This project was completed in 2005,
with the graduation of Mr. Il Sohn. Two RHF simulators were built to study
the reduction of ore-coal pellets and the role of volatiles. The effect of
volatiles on reduction of Fe 2O 3 was measured and an empirical model was developed.
- Mixed Burden Softening and Melting Phenomenon – Two
graduate students, Pallava Kaushik and
Paulo Nogueira have received their doctorates within this project.
The project showed that a mixture of basic and acid pellets would
behave similarly to all basic pellets, which is more costly.
- Simulation of Reduction of Iron-Ore Composite in RHF – This
is an ongoing project, where research
is being carried out by Mr. Sabuj Halder. Research to date, have
shown that: (i) graphite is more reactive than coal-char, (ii)
PAH-graphite composite pellets sinter more than PAH-coal-char
pellets, (iii) the reduction of hematite with graphite follows
a stepwise reduction scheme. (iv) reaction rate determination through Mass-spectrometry
is being developed.
- A new Iron Making Process to Reduce Energy and CO 2 – This
is a relatively new project being carried
out by Rodrigo Corbari. The goal is to validate a new conceptual
process where energy and emission are reduced significantly by
developing a direct smelting process using high volatile coals.
The process involves a charring step where the released volatile
gases are to be used for pre-reduction and for producing synthetic fuel for
purposes such as fuel cells.
2. EAF steelmaking
Post Combustion – The post combustion model for the
EAF has been documented and made user friendly as a first step towards commercialization.
3. De-oxidation and ladle refining
- H and N Pickup – This project was carried out
by Mr. Siddhartha Misra who has graduated. The objective was
to elucidate the pickup of hydrogen and nitrogen that is picked
up as a result of ladle air bubble entrainment. The outcome of
the thesis was a comprehensive mathematical model to predict hydrogen and
nitrogen pick-up in the ladle process.
- Clean Steels – In this project the capture of
inclusions by ladle slags was studied. Inclusion dissolution
experiments were carried out by Mr. Martin Valdez for alumina, magnesia and
spinel particles of various sizes. The separation of inclusions across steel/slag
interfaces, and re-oxidation as a result of reactions with the atmosphere
and container materials were studied by Ms. Yan Wang. Both Martin Valdez
and Yan Wang have obtained their PhD degrees. Currently an inclusion separation
model is being developed by George Shannon.
- Transient effects of Ti, Al de-oxidation – This
is a new project that aims to study the transient oxides
formed during Al and Ti additions in the ladle during de-oxidation
of IF-steels. The project was developed based on the interest expressed by
several member companies during the last two mini-meetings on steelmaking
as well as casting.
4. Tundish metallurgy and Continuous Casting
- Clean Steels – Yan Wang graduated in 2004 with a
doctorate and her research focused on inclusion evolution in the tundish and
continuous caster. As a result of her research: (i) an elucidation of the mechanism
and rates for re-oxidation from shrouding gases was developed and (ii) an experimental
study on oxide inclusion evolution during steel solidification was carried
out including the precipitation of CaS and MnS on oxide inclusions.
- Inclusion Optimization – The objective of this
project is to assess the inclusion properties that control the nucleation
of solid iron during casting. The research has focused on undercooling measurements
and results show that the undercooling can be varied
from 30 degrees to 300 degrees by controlling the oxygen potential, resulting
in significant differences in solidification structure.
- Delta Ferrite Formation and Peritectic Solidification – This
research was aimed at utilizing the CSLM to image solidification
in steels. Neill McDonald (graduated 2004, is currently with Arcelor) quantified
the austenite growth rate around delta-ferrite fronts during the peritectic
reaction for Fe-Ni, Fe-Co, Fe-C and stainless steels. Mr. Chanjoon Paek (with
POSCO) obtained his M.Sc. degree for quantifying inter-face breakdown and
validation of the Mullins-Sekerka stability analysis.
- Radiative Heat Transfer in Mold Slags – The research
being carried out by Wanlin Wang is an experimental study
to quantify the radiative contribution to heat transfer in mold-slag films
as function of crystallized fraction and slag chemistry. Mr. Wang has designed
an innovative experimental setup based on IR heating and instrumented thermocouples
to quantify the heat flux. Emphasis is placed on studying the effects of
Mn and Al as expected from pickup during casting of TRIP and TWIP grades.
5. Scaling
TRIP Steels - Research is being carried out to study the kinetics
of internal and external oxidation during casting, hot-rolling and annealing
of TRIP steels as function of atmosphere, temperature and Al/Si ratio in the
steel. The research is being carried out by Ms. Tamara Baum and through collaboration
with Professor Dieter Senk at RWTH Aachen.
6. Annealing
Austenite formation kinetics – The research is aimed
at studying through CSLM and EBSD the the migration of austenite fronts during
inter-critical annealing. Results to date suggest a change in front migration
mechanism from a long-range diffusional mechanism at temperatures below T 0
to a massive type (interface controlled) mechanism above T 0. Alloy grades
that are being investigated include IF-steels, Alloy Steels, and TRIP steels.
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