Metallurgical performance of innovative double-parameter oxygen lance in BOF steelmaking

ABSTRACT

The metallurgical performance of a double-parameter oxygen lance was characterized using the prototype of a 260 t converter. The influences of nozzle arrangement on the cavity size, mixing ability and splashing capacity were discussed. The results demonstrated that the small-nozzle inclination has a greater impact on the cavity diameter, while the large-nozzle flow ratio has a greater impact on the cavity depth. The influence of the large-nozzle gas flow rate on the stirring strength is greater than that of the nozzle inclination. The maximum splash flux is located at the outer edge of the large nozzle farthest from the axis of the lance. The large-nozzle flow of the double-parameter lance shall be limited to less than 65% of the total flow to prevent the molten steel from splashing out of the converter. Many metallurgical indexes were improved by the application of the double-parameter lance under commercial production conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Double-parameter oxygen lance
• converter
• cavity size
• mixing ability
• splashing

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support by Education Department Project of Liaoning Province (2020LNQN12), National Key R&D Project of China (2017YFC0805100) and Science and Technology Project of Liaoning province (2018307003).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support by Department of Education of Liaoning Province [2020LNQN12], National Key Research and Development Project of China [2017YFC0805100] and Department of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province [2018307003].