The dissolution of oxide particles is important for steel inclusion metallurgy due to the interaction between the refractory material and liquid steel, as well as in the area of steel cleanliness. It is affected by various factors which include the oxide particle´s morphology (size and shape), the process’s temperature, and the slag’s composition.
In this study, the dissolution behaviour of oxide particles is investigated via a series of dissolution experiments. The dissolution of three different oxide particles (i.e., silica (SiO2), alumina (Al2O3), and magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4)) are observed in pre-melted CaO– Al2O3– SiO2 slags (of varying composition) with the aid of a High-Temperature Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy (HT-CLSM) setup.
The change in the diameter of the spherical oxide particles and the characteristic dissolution time is derived from the analysis of images that are extracted from video recordings of the dissolution process.
It is observed that silica dissolved with the average fastest dissolution time, and it was faster than the alumina and MA spinel particle; but the alumina particle dissolved significantly slower with a more uniformly linear dissolution profile.