1.

ladle degassing processes

2. stream degassing processes 3. circulation gegassing processes (DH and RH) As stated in Chapter I, an additional temperature drop of 20 to 40c occurs during secondary processing of liquid steel. Temperature control is very important for proper casting, especially continuous casting. Therefore, provisions for heating and temperature adjustment during secondary steelmaking are very desirable. Tn vacuum processing, a successful commercial development in the decade of the 1960s was vacuum arc degassing (VAD), where arc heating is undertaken. Provision for healing is provided in an RH degasser as well. Stainless steels contain a high percentage of chromium. A cheap source of Cr is high-carbon ferrochrome. However, its addition raises the carbon content of the melt to about I%, which is to be lowered to less than 0.03% in subsequent processing. Oxygen lancing bas already been found to promote C-0 reaction in preference to Cr-0 reaction, and it has been practiced commercially. The use of a vacuum is of further help and led to the development of vacuum-oxygen decarburization (VOD) process for stainless steels in the decade of tbe 1960s. Some oxygen blowing is nowadays resorted to in vacuum degassers for the production of ultra-low carbon steels as well. The RH-OB process is an example. Tn vacuum degassing, the total pressure in the chamber is lowered, whereas, in degassing by argon purging, the total pressure above the melt is essentially atmospheric. Even then, degassin'g is effected. This is because partial pressures of H2, N2, and CO are essentially zero in the incoming argon gas. Therefore, degassing by bubbling argon through the melt without vacuum is possible in principle. But consumption and cost of argon would be high, and the processing time would be lengthy. Hence, it is not practiced for ordinary steels. However, decarburization of stainless steel melts by the orson-oxysen decarburittJtiOII {AOD) process is still popular.