TY - JOUR

T1 - Simulation of the Refining Process of Ultra-Low Carbon (ULC) Steel

AU - You, Dali

AU - Bernhard, Christian

AU - Viertauer, Andreas

AU - Linzer, Bernd

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2021/7/30

Y1 - 2021/7/30

N2 - The standard production route for mild steels for automotive purposes is still based on conventional continuous casting (CC) and hot strip rolling (HSR). The current trend towards the “zero-carbon car” will demand the abating of material emissions in the future. Thin slab casting and direct rolling (e.g., Arvedi endless strip production (ESP)) is an approach to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% compared to CC and HSR. One of the main limitations in applying ESP for the production of ultra-low carbon/interstitial free (ULC/IF) steels is clogging. Clogging is the blockage of the submerged entry nozzle due to the build-up of oxide layers or an oxide network. The high clogging sensitivity of IF steels results most probably from the FeTi addition, and hence, a general change of the deoxidation practice might be an option to overcome these problems. In the present work, the thorough refining process of ULC steel was simulated by addressing the different deoxidation routes and the influence of titanium (Ti) alloying on steel cleanness. The developed ladle furnace (LF) and the Ruhrstahl Heraeus (RH) refining models were applied to perform the simulation. Before the simulations, the models are briefly described and validated by the published industrial data.

AB - The standard production route for mild steels for automotive purposes is still based on conventional continuous casting (CC) and hot strip rolling (HSR). The current trend towards the “zero-carbon car” will demand the abating of material emissions in the future. Thin slab casting and direct rolling (e.g., Arvedi endless strip production (ESP)) is an approach to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% compared to CC and HSR. One of the main limitations in applying ESP for the production of ultra-low carbon/interstitial free (ULC/IF) steels is clogging. Clogging is the blockage of the submerged entry nozzle due to the build-up of oxide layers or an oxide network. The high clogging sensitivity of IF steels results most probably from the FeTi addition, and hence, a general change of the deoxidation practice might be an option to overcome these problems. In the present work, the thorough refining process of ULC steel was simulated by addressing the different deoxidation routes and the influence of titanium (Ti) alloying on steel cleanness. The developed ladle furnace (LF) and the Ruhrstahl Heraeus (RH) refining models were applied to perform the simulation. Before the simulations, the models are briefly described and validated by the published industrial data.

KW - Ladle furnace (LF)

KW - Refining process

KW - Ruhrstahl Heraeus (RH)

KW - Simulation

KW - Ultra-low carbon (ULC) steel

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111915803&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/cryst11080893

DO - 10.3390/cryst11080893

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85111915803

VL - 11.2021

JO - Crystals

JF - Crystals

SN - 2073-4352

IS - 8

M1 - 893

ER -