THE EFFECT OF BASICITY ON THE PHASE COMPOSITION, VISCOSITY AND CRYSTALLIZATION TEMPERATURE OF STEELMAKING SLAGS CONTAINING CE2O3

Abstract

A promising direction for solving the problem of improving the quality and reducing the cost of metal products is the deep desulfurization of metal and microalloying of steel. The possibility of deep metal desulfurization under the main slags is largely determined by the provision of favorable kinetic conditions for the transition of sulfur from the metal into the slag bulk. The kinetics of the process largely depends on the viscosity of the refining slags. One of the promising ways to reduce the viscosity of refining slags is the use of rare earth elements. In this paper, the effect of basicity on the phase composition, viscosity and crystallization temperature of refining slags of the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO system containing Ce2O3 was studied by vibrational viscometry, thermodynamic modeling of the phase composition. In the absence of cerium oxide, a higher viscosity of the slag with a basicity of 2 and a higher crystallization temperature are observed, which is confirmed by the literature data. The presence of Ce2O3 in the slags of the studied oxide system is accompanied by a decrease in viscosity and crystallization temperature compared to the base composition of the slag without Ce2O3. A positive effect of the basicity of slags in the studied range of chemical composition on the process of cerium reduction was noted. The results of thermodynamic modeling are confirmed experimentally. With the improvement of the physical properties of the slags of the studied oxide system, the development of the process of direct microalloying of steel with cerium is observed, which, as is known, favorably affects the properties of steel.