Separation of Fine Al₂O₃ Inclusion from Liquid Steel with Super Gravity

An innovative approach of super gravity was proposed to separate fine Al₂O₃ inclusions from liquid steel in this study. To investigate the removal behaviors of inclusions, the effects of different gravity coefficients and time on separating the inclusions were studied. The results show that a large amount of Al₂O₃ inclusions gathered at the top of the sample obtained by super gravity, whereas there were almost no inclusions appearing at the bottom. The volume fraction and number density of inclusions presented a gradient distribution along the direction of the super gravity, which became steeper with increasing gravity coefficient and separating time. As a result of the collision between inclusions, a large amount of inclusions aggregated and grew during the moving process, which further decreased the removal time. The experimental required removal time of inclusions is close to the theoretical values calculated by Stokes law under gravity coefficient G ≤ 80, t ≤ 15 minutes, and the small deviation may be because the inclusion particles are not truly spherical. Under the condition of gravity coefficient G = 80, t = 15 minutes, the total oxygen content at the bottom of the sample (position of 5 cm) is only 8.4 ppm, and the removal rate is up to 95.6 pct compared with that under normal gravity.