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New application of converter slag blocking plug: improving the purity of molten steel and reducing production costs
2025-09-28
As a key functional material in the steelmaking process, the innovative application of converter slag stopper has significant effects on improving the purity of molten steel and reducing production costs. The following is a detailed analysis of its technical principles, application advantages, and implementation path:
1、 Principle and functional upgrade of slag blocking plug technology
Accurate slag blocking mechanism
Traditional slag blocking plugs (such as brazed reinforced composite materials) are put into the converter at the end of steelmaking to achieve slag steel separation by utilizing density differences. The new generation of products has increased the success rate of slag blocking from 80% to over 95% and reduced slag discharge to ≤ 1kg/t steel by optimizing the shape (such as conical head+tail guide wing) and material ratio (adding Al ₂ O3/MgO to improve erosion resistance).
Functional composite design
Alloying integration: Embedding Fe Mn, Fe Si and other alloy core blocks into the plug body, synchronously achieving alloy fine-tuning with slag blocking, reducing subsequent processing steps, and reducing the cost of steel alloy by 3-5 yuan per ton.
Gas dynamic regulation: The porous structure design can be combined with bottom blown argon gas to promote the floating of non-metallic inclusions, resulting in [O] ≤ 15ppm and [N] ≤ 25ppm.
2、 Improvement effect on the purity of molten steel
Inclusion control
The use of highly alkaline slag blocking plugs (CaO SiO ₂ system) can adsorb Al ₂ O3 inclusions in the top slag of steel ladles, reducing the rating of B-class inclusions by 1-1.5 levels.
Data from a certain steel plant: After the application of 20MnSi steel grade, large particle inclusions (>50 μ m) decreased by 70%, and the blockage rate of continuous casting nozzles decreased by 40%.
Component stability guarantee
By reducing the amount of slag (≤ 2mm thick slag layer), the phosphorus recovery rate of the molten steel is controlled within 0.003% to avoid the burden of dephosphorization in the LF furnace.
3、 Quantitative analysis of cost reduction and efficiency improvement
Direct economic benefits
Reduce alloy loss: Increasing the success rate of slag blocking increases the alloy yield by 2-3%, saving alloy costs by 8-12 yuan per ton of steel.
Extended refractory life: The erosion rate of magnesia carbon bricks in the ladle slag line is reduced by 30%, and the annual maintenance cost is reduced by about 150000 yuan per converter.
Implicit cost optimization
Shorten the smelting cycle: reduce the processing time of the subsequent process by 3-5 minutes per furnace, and increase the annual production of molten steel by about 12000 tons (based on a 120 ton converter).
Quality premium: The improvement in purity increases the qualification rate of high-grade steel by 0.8%, and the selling price per ton of steel increases by 50-80 yuan.
4、 Key implementation points and industry cases
Optimization of process adaptability
The material of the plug body needs to be selected according to the steel type: low carbon steel is suitable for MgO-C series, and high oxygen steel requires ZrO ₂ reinforced type.
Delivery timing model: Based on the flow rate of the steel outlet and the viscosity of the steel slag, the delivery is automatically controlled through AI image recognition (such as reducing the misoperation rate to 0 after application by Baowu Group).
5、 Future technological directions
Intelligent response materials: Develop temperature sensitive plug bodies (such as 1300 ℃ self expanding structures) that dynamically adapt to changes in the flow field of molten steel.
Carbon neutral combination: using biomass binders instead of phenolic resins to reduce VOCs emissions by more than 30%.
Through the systematic application of slag blocking technology innovation, steel enterprises can achieve a dual breakthrough in quality and cost without increasing investment in main equipment, especially suitable for the production of high purity products such as automotive panels and electrical steel. It is recommended that enterprises conduct small furnace experiments based on their own smelting characteristics to determine better parameter combinations.
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