eC TECHNICAL PAPER : An effective filter for steel foundry applications 'T V Johnson’ Abstract An intensive 4-year development effort invloving steel foundries, foundry suppliers and acedamia has resulted in an effective molten-metal filter for steel foundry applica- tions. Presented are a general overview of the nature of the inchision problem in steel foundries, and the performance characteristics of the filter as determined in laboratories and foundries, ‘The filter works over a wide range of temperatures. For example, carbon steel poured between 1540°C (35°C. id 1675°C can be filtered. filter is easily applied in current gating systems. Application guidelines for using the filters are provided. based on estimated cleani vingsalone, filtersare economically justified for Introduction For a steel foundry shipping 500 tons of steel castings a month, reparation costs due to inclusions are typically about £500,000 per year'”. Although filters have been avait: able to steel foundries for up to four yearsand are effective inclusions, general acceptance by the steel foundry indusuy has been low, Many of the filters break if the meltis too hotor iftoo much slag enters the mould,and 1g the colder pours. In other ‘words, most filters do not perform consistently under the variety of conditions commonly encountered in steel foun dries. The technical obstacles to developing a steel fit would be widely accepted by the industry arc sig Although mostcarbon steel is poured at temperatures from about 1560 to 1620°C, the last moulds of cold heat maysee 1540°C (only 85°C supetheat) and the first moulds ofa hot heat may see 1675°C. Filters made of zirconia, alumina, Zircon and/or mullite, are readily available that can survive many of the higher temperatures. Hovever, pouring a carbon steel casting with only 35°Csuperheat using such fil- tersisvery difficult because there isnot enough heat in the al to bring the filter to pouring temperature without freezing metal in the filer. Many filter suppliers recom- mend metal bypass ystems and reservoirs thatallow metal to flow past the filter, thus preheating the filter and allevi- ating much of the freezing problem. Even with such, atleast 70°C superheat (1570°Cfor carbon steels) in the metal iste quired to consistently pass through the filter In 1989 uhe author and others" described an extruded cellular ceramic filter that showed promise in meeting the demands of stcel foundry applications. The mullite-based filter has a proprietary (patent pending) thermite coati that ignites to generate enough heat to pass steel comi from the ladle with only 88°Csupetheat, Aluminium oxide, the product of the thermite reaction, was demonstrated to protect the fiter from corroding and breaking at tempera- tues exceeding 1675°C, even when a very corrosive basic melting slag (35% CaO, 5% CaF,) was intentionally at- tached to the filter before pouring. Consing, New York M4831 In two years since that paper, the filter has been im. proved and is in the lattcr stages of ficld testing in the US, ‘This paper summarizes the resultsand experienceslearned to date on the application and benefits of the filter. summary of inchision sources and chemistry, along with a brief description of previously reported results on the filter are first presented. Inclusions in steel Knowing the source, chemistry, and morphology of inclu sions will help predict the extent that filtration can benefit steel foundries, Also, the background on incl point to minor changes in practice or small moves in melt chemistry that may reduce the amount of inclusions co1 ing into the mould or at least make them more filterable. Some inclusions, such assand, slag and refractory pieces are readily identified and corrected. However, after more than 30 years of investigation, the source of the predomi nant ‘ceroxide’ inclusion in steel cast I debated, ‘even though the chemistry and two principle causes of the ceroxide inclusions in steel have been identifice. The ceroxide inclusions are thought to result from either a reaction ofthe meltwith refractory orwith air™*®, The chemistry of inclusions from these two sources in very similar, in that they contain MnO, Al, SiO, and FeO, ‘This undoubtedly has contributed to the debate. ‘The refractory reaction ‘The corrosion of refractories by the metal hasbeen demon strated" to occur by the reaction: 4 A143 SiO, (refractory) - 2 Al,O, (inclusion) + 3 where the underlined species are dissolved in the metal Other alloys that form stable oxides such as chromium, zirconium, and titanium can substitute for aluminium, Lyman, etal” substituted radioactive silicon into the fireclay refractory of a ladle to demonstrate that anywho from 16 to 90 percent of the silicon in ceroxide inclusion ‘comes from the refractory. However, in another heat in which the radioactive silicon was added to the melt, about 60 percent of the ceroxide silicon came from the metal. ‘These results suggest that ceroxides come from both the refractory and oxidation of the melt, and that the propor- tions from each source y over wide ranges. Blowing high-pressure air at the metal stream had no effect on the ceroxidesin the castings, nordid backfilling the mould with wogen before pouring, suggesting that the reaction with] ‘oxygen from the air was not significant under their condi- tions. Inclusion chemistries were correlated to both melt and refractory chemistryin several different ypes of exper ments Flinn and n Vlack, etal." found that fireclay refracto- carbon steel to form inclusions with compo- sitions similar (0 those obtained by Lyman, etal. Fl tentionally introduced air to the melt while pouring into a mould. and found no significant in inchision level or chemistry compared to gathered from the pourspout, Clean alumina and imaagne- sia refractories resist corrosion by the steel, but severely corrode when brought in contact with slag prior to expo- The Foundryman October 1991sure to'the melt Ashton and Sharman’ found that ceroxide inclusions could be reduced significantly if chemically-bonded alu used instead of conventional ramming materials 1 nozzles in bottom-poured ladles. They also matched diameter to casting and ladle size to affect the flow of stecl in the vicinity of the nozzle, and thus inhibiting inclusions from forming by erosion of the refractory in the hottom of the ladle. Using the proper nozzle size also minimizes the amount of throttling by the operator to limit the flow, thus reducing turbulence in the metal coming out of the nozzle and limiting the reaction of metal with air High-alumina refractories and disposable ladle liners of variotts compositions are now commonly used in ladles. Both of these developments result in cleaner stcel castings, butdo not entirely eliminate refractory-sourced inclusions. ‘The stopper-nozzle region of bottom-poured ladles is still a source of inclusions, probably from a combination of ¢ra- sion by metal and slag attack The reaction with air Because of high temperaturesand the presence of reactive oxide formers (aluminium, silicon, manganese) steel will very quickly react with air to form inclusions. The reactions ‘cur during metal transfer operations when turbulence causes fresh metal surfaces to be exposed to air, and when the metab air interface is greatly expanded, Vingas, ctal.© analysed slag prior to pouring, from a swirl riser, and at the casting in numerous pours. They found that the alumina level in the ceroxides increased from the furnace to the riser and then to the casting. Because aluminium was present only in the melt, the alumina in the inclusions could only come from the oxida- tion of the melt byair during pouring and transport in the mould. Preece” used petrographic analysis, and Griffin etal used microprobe analyses to ceduce that most of the macrovinclusions in steel come from oxidation by air. Preece found that the composition of the inclusions nicely tracked the reactive species of the melt. However, Flinn, et.al." found that such a correlation is also present when refrato- ries are corroded. Griffin, et.al. analysed over 600 incli- sions from production castings. Correlations of the incl sion chemistry to that of the moulding materials, melt, and refractories were used to deduce that more than 80 percent of ceroxide inclusions come from oxidation of the melt by air ‘The above and other studies™ show that both refractory corrosion and metal oxidation are important sources of inclusions in steel castings. The sources of ceroxide inclu sions strongly depend on foundry practice: refractories, ladle type, gating design, and melt chemisuy. Evidence in the literature suggests that few inclusionsare formed in the mould eavity, but are present in the metal before it enters the mould cavity. This would indicate that filters have significant potential for helping to make cleaner castings. Filterability of inclusions Whethe filter deper reference. the MnO ed by johnson Shown on the! ornot a ceroxide inclusion will be wrapped bya ison inclusion morphology and ehemisy. For ig-I shows am estimate of the liquid regions in }O,1-ALO, system at 1200, ail." using data by Fujisawa and figureare the compositional ranges TECHNICAL PAPER SD Uyro0, et. 0. &®D Vingos, et. 01. Chet m QDrinnt BD ciitin, eo A, Fig.1 MnO SiO, AIO, phase diagram estimated by Johnson, eval” Regions represent inclusion compositions determined by Various authors, FeO ta the inclusion is plowed 8 MnO of inclusions analysed in some of the referenced stucies. ‘The bulk compositions of ceroxide inclusions in com- mercial castings as determined by Lyman etal. fall well thin the liquid region of the system at steel pouring temperatures. However, many of these inclusions con tained sintered silica grainsand are described as spongy" in the more detailed original report", These inclusions are irregularly shaped and thought to behave as though they were solid, They found that inclusion chemistry tracked melt chemistry. Inclusions in alu Ned steel have 10 to 15 percent more alumina that those in silicor-killed stecl. Also the manganese oxide content of the inclusions increases at the expense of sila as the Mn:S melt increases, Vingas, et.al® found that inclusionsin castin in chemistry and have a liquidus temperature close to that of the pouring temperature. It is quite probable that such inclu 0 viscous and filterable. Flinn and Van Viack, etal." found thatwhen high-alumina fireclay refrac- tories are corroded, highalumina inclusions form that have a high viscosity. Many of the petrographic analyses of inclusions in the aforementioned studies indicate corundum. (alumina). which implies the inclusion precursor is high in alumina and therefore has a relatively high melting point. The reported chemistry of inclusions thought 10 come from refractory corrosion or melt oxidation is generally high in alumina, This type of inclusion may effectively be stopped by a fitt ase the inclusion chemistry tracks melt chemistry. the only inclusion type that may be too fluid to er is one formed from a melt with a low aluminium content and high silicon and manganese contents, or with ahigh Mn: hum and limiting the manga h compositional exibility would tend to make inclusions more filterable, Previous investigations on cellular ceramic filters for steel applications Previous studi "have demonstrated that even very small inclusions can be effectively removed from steel The Foundryman October 1991 385TECHNICAL PAPER 38 epee treed 30} 020 4 25: (ng /s0e sem®), 204 Average Flow Rate Through Filter (Ibs/sec. T e 100200300400 00 NO rites Filter Cell Sizes (CSI) Fig: Unit area Now rates of steel poured dhrough varie filters. Flow rates drecly proportional to (ferrastatic Ihead was 176inm in these experiments ‘eller ceramic ad) Fervosatc using cellularceramic filters, For example, Ali, Muth: asan, and Apelian'™ removed all inclusions larger than about 3 microns from steel using a cellular filter Sem thick with 62 cells per cm? (400 cells per in.*, 400 cis). When the cell length (lilter thickness) is increased to 10cm, all ine sions greater than 115 microns are removed by the filters. The authors reported that the inchusions sinter to the internal cell walls of the filter and that a mechanism quite differentfrom simple sievingisoperative. The metal flowed. vertically through the filters. Su, et.al." showed how both the filtration efficiency of macro:inclusions and metal flow rate depend on the cell density of the cellular filter. Fig.2 shows how the unit area Now rate of steel through filters steadily decreases with increasing cell density, even though the open frontal area (percent of filter face that is open} is constant at about 65 percent forall filters, With increasing cell density the metal- mic interface increases, resulting in greater frictional and surface energy effects. Su, etal. reported that dhe exposed filter area should be at least 4 times the system choke area to prevent the filter from acting as the choke, Fig.3 shows how filtration efficiency increases with in- creasing cell density, as determined by Su, etal. The capa bility ofa filter to remove fluid inclusions increases mark: edly when the cell density is increased from 7.8 cells/cm {50 esi) (0 15.5 {0 200 csi). The filtration efficiency of solid inclusionsis less dependent on cell density. The filter with 7.8.cells/em? (50- esi) removes 73 percent of those inclusions, The filter with 31.0 cells/cm, (200-csi) removes 84 percent Su, etal. conchudedl the filter with 15.5 cells/em* (100 csi) provided the best compromise between unit area flow rate and filtration efficiency Johnson, etal.” further developed and conducted foun- ciry tests with that filter, The authors reported results on. fatigue testing of filtered and unfiltered test bars, and on 386 a Fitrton Etficiesey ss & © apr egtargeeemsons x Fluid inclusions on 0 ope suites 4 ue 70 Filter Celt Oeasity Fig.3Filuation efficiency of various cellular ceramic filters. Determined on a standard step pate casting under laboratory conditions the low- and high-temperature tests (priming and durabik ity tests, respectively) used to develop the cellular ceramic steel filter. Filtration results from commercial foundry tests were provided. As-cast test bars made using filters with 15.5 cells/cm? (100 esi) have fatigue strengths about 15 percent greater than ered bars. The evidence suggests filters can be effective in removing fine inclusions. The authors reported that several iterations among filter devel ‘opment, laboratory testing and field testing resulted in a reliable laboratory test that could accurately predict the priming performance and high-temperature durability of filters used in commercial foundries. A prototype filter was described that consistently filters low-earbon steel poured at temperatures from 1535 to 1675°C. Condition | <116" | steve" | >a" (1.6mm) |(1.6-6.4mm) [6.4mm Fitered 2a 4 ° Fitored 23 ° 0 Fitored 12 ° 0 Filtorod 32 ° ° Filtored 15 1 ° Fitorod 4 2 ° Filtered 4 1 ° Fitered 1" ° ° Av.Fillered 178 1.0 ° Uniitered | 12 2 ° Unfitered | 47 6 ° Untitered | 14 2 0 Unfitered 1 0 4 1 able 1: Number and sizeof defects on get (alter machining 3.2m capes 0.125 The Founaryman October 1991 |