JP2008056992A - Method for refining molten steel in rh vacuum degassing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inhibit the wear of refractory brick in a side wall of a vacuum chamber compared to a conventional method without causing a problem of lowering a decarburization reaction speed, when smelting a molten steel by spraying oxygen gas toward the molten steel in the vacuum chamber from a top-blowing lance which penetrates through a top cover of the vacuum chamber in an RH vacuum degassing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: When smelting the molten steel 3 while spraying the oxygen gas toward the surface of the molten steel in the vacuum chamber 5 from the top-blowing lance 13, this refining method includes: adjusting the height H (m) of a lance, which is a distance between the surface of the molten steel in the vacuum chamber and the head of the top-blowing lance, a spreading angle θ (deg. ) of the oxygen gas sprayed from the top-blowing lance with respect to the center line of the top-blowing lance, and the distance R (m) between the center of the top-blowing lance and the surface of the refractory brick in the side wall of the vacuum chamber, on the surface of the molten steel in the vacuum chamber, into such a range as to satisfy a relation of the expression: H≤(R-0.2)/tanθ; and supplying the oxygen gas so that the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas can be 2 kPa or lower on the surface of the molten steel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for refining molten steel in an RH vacuum degassing apparatus, in which oxygen gas is blown from an upper blowable lance installed in a vacuum chamber to a molten steel in a vacuum chamber.

  Users have been required to improve their workability year after year for thin steel sheets used in many applications such as thin steel sheets for automobile exteriors, thin steel sheets for cans, and thin steel sheets for home appliances. On the other hand, in the manufacturing process, the annealing applied to the thin steel sheet after the cold rolling is rapidly changed from the conventional batch annealing to the continuous annealing. Under such circumstances, the steel for thin steel sheets is extremely low in excellent workability with a carbon content of 0.01% by mass or less from a low carbon steel with a carbon content of 0.01-0.1% by mass. It is rapidly changing to carbon steel.

  In order to smelt ultra-low carbon steel from hot metal melted in a blast furnace, first, decarburization refining is performed on the hot metal in the converter, and then molten steel is melted from the hot metal, and then the molten steel is subjected to vacuum degassing equipment. It is made by decarburization refining under reduced pressure. It is known that the decarburization reaction of these molten iron and molten steel is represented by a reaction formula of “[C] + [O] → CO (g)”. Here, [C] is carbon in hot metal or molten steel, [O] is dissolved oxygen in hot metal or molten steel, and CO (g) is CO gas.

  In the decarburization refining at atmospheric pressure in the converter, the partial pressure of the CO gas generated by the decarburization reaction is 1 atm (1013 hPa). Therefore, the carbon concentration of the ultra low carbon steel is reduced by the converter decarburization refining. In order to decarburize to a concentration level of 0.01% by mass or less, it is necessary to make the dissolved oxygen concentration higher than an extremely high level (approximately 0.24% by mass or more). When dissolved oxygen is brought to such a high concentration level, iron oxidation becomes intense, and the iron yield in the converter is greatly reduced. In addition, since the supplied oxygen and iron react to form iron oxide, it is actually very difficult to make the dissolved oxygen concentration such a high concentration in the converter. As described above, when melting ultra-low carbon steel, degassing equipment is used to reduce the partial pressure of the generated CO gas, and the above reaction formula is advanced.

In the decarburization refining of molten steel in the degassing facility, as long as the molten steel secures dissolved oxygen of about 0.002% by mass or more, the decarburization reaction proceeds thermodynamically according to the above reaction formula. The higher the oxygen, the more the decarburization reaction is promoted, and as the decarburization reaction proceeds, the dissolved oxygen is consumed, the dissolved oxygen concentration decreases and the decarburization reaction is delayed. There has been proposed a method of decarburizing and refining by blowing oxygen gas from an upper blowing lance installed in a vacuum tank toward a molten steel surface under reduced pressure (see, for example, Patent Document 1). By supplying oxygen gas, dissolved oxygen in the molten steel is secured, and the decarburization reaction is promoted. Further, the CO gas generated by the decarburization reaction is burned by oxygen gas supplied from the top blowing lance (this combustion is referred to as “secondary combustion”) to become CO ₂ gas. The effect that the adhesion to is suppressed is also exhibited.

  For these reasons, decarburization and refining, in which oxygen gas is blown from an upper blowing lance that can be moved up and down, is widely used in vacuum degassing facilities.

  However, on the other hand, when oxygen gas was blown from the top blowing lance, there was a problem that the wear of the side wall refractory of the vacuum chamber, particularly the local wear, became significant compared to the conventional case. This problem occurs when the oxygen gas supply amount is increased, and for the purpose of preventing adhesion of the metal in the tank due to spitting due to the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance, that is, the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas jet on the surface of the molten steel It has been found that this is particularly remarkable when the distance between the tip of the top blowing lance and the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber is increased for the purpose of reducing spitting and reducing spitting. The distance between the tip of the top blowing lance and the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber is referred to as “lance height”.

  Conventionally, as an RH vacuum degassing device capable of preventing the refractory from being worn while having an upper blowing lance, Patent Document 2 is provided to be inserted through the upper lid of the vacuum chamber so as to be movable up and down. In the upper blowing lance, an upper blowing lance having a mechanism for turning the upper blowing lance at an angle of 5 to 50 degrees with respect to the vertical direction and a mechanism for stopping the turning at an arbitrary position is disclosed. . According to Patent Document 2, since the range of the secondary combustion zone can be adjusted, the refractory on the inner wall of the vacuum chamber can be prevented from being melted. However, this technique requires a function of turning the upper blowing lance. The equipment costs are high, and the secondary combustion zone is decentered with respect to the center of the vacuum chamber to prevent refractory wear. However, the technique of Patent Document 2 cannot be applied.

Further, in Patent Document 3, in the RH vacuum degassing apparatus, when the oxygen gas is blown up onto the molten steel surface through the upper blowing lance that can be moved up and down, the central axis of the upper blowing lance is set to the inner diameter of the rising side dip pipe. A method of injecting oxygen gas in a region is disclosed. According to Patent Document 3, since oxygen gas is injected only into the region of the inner diameter of the rising side dip tube, turbulence of the recirculation due to the top-blown oxygen gas is suppressed, and the refractory refractory constituting the bottom of the vacuum chamber is reduced. However, there is no description regarding the wear of the side wall refractories of the vacuum chamber. In Patent Document 3, since the top blowing lance is eccentric with respect to the vacuum chamber, there is a high possibility that the refractory on the side of the vacuum chamber on the eccentric side is significantly worn out.
JP-A-1-246314 JP 7-41825 A JP 9-143546 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is from an up-and-down upper blow lance penetrating the upper lid of the vacuum chamber of the RH vacuum degassing apparatus toward molten steel in the vacuum chamber. When refining molten steel by blowing oxygen gas, the RH vacuum degassing device can suppress the wear of refractories on the side wall of the vacuum chamber as compared with the conventional one without causing problems such as a decrease in the decarburization reaction rate. Is to provide a method for refining molten steel.

  The present inventors have conducted intensive research to solve the above problems. As a result of comparing the spread of the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance with the damage position of the vacuum chamber side wall refractory, the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance directly collides with the side wall refractory, thereby damaging the side wall refractory. Was confirmed to progress. Therefore, by adjusting the lance height of the top blow lance so that the oxygen gas jet from the top blow lance does not directly hit the side wall refractory but hits the molten steel surface, It was found that damage can be prevented and the life of the refractory on the side wall of the vacuum chamber can be extended.

  The present invention has been made on the basis of the above knowledge, and the method for refining molten steel in the RH vacuum degassing apparatus according to the present invention, while blowing oxygen gas from the top blowing lance toward the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber. When refining molten steel, the lance height, which is the distance from the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber to the top of the top lance, the spread angle of the oxygen gas blown from the top lance to the center line of the top lance, and the molten steel in the vacuum chamber While adjusting these so that the distance from the center position of the upper blowing lance at the surface position to the refractory surface of the side wall of the vacuum chamber is within the range satisfying the relationship of the following equation (1), oxygen on the molten steel surface The oxygen gas is supplied so that the dynamic pressure of the gas is 2 kPa or less. However, in Formula (1), H is the lance height (m), R is the distance (m) from the center position of the top lance at the molten steel surface position in the vacuum chamber to the refractory surface on the side wall of the vacuum chamber, θ Is the spread angle (deg.) Of the oxygen gas blown from the top blow lance with respect to the center line of the top blow lance.

  H ≦ (R−0.2) / tanθ (1)

  According to the present invention, since oxygen gas is blown from the top blowing lance while preventing the oxygen gas jet from directly hitting the vacuum tank side wall refractory, local damage to the vacuum tank side wall refractory is prevented, and the vacuum tank side wall is prevented. Damage to the refractory can be suppressed, and the dynamic pressure of oxygen gas at the molten steel surface at that time is controlled to 2 kPa or less, thus preventing adhesion of metal in the vacuum chamber due to spitting. Can do.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an RH vacuum degassing apparatus to which the present invention is applied, in which oxygen gas is blown toward a molten steel surface in a vacuum tank through an upper blowing lance to refine the molten steel. FIG.

  In addition, in the RH vacuum degassing apparatus, oxygen gas is supplied from the top blowing lance to perform the decarburization refining of molten steel under reduced pressure to remove carbon in molten steel with oxygen, and Al added to the molten steel is oxygen gas. Examples include a molten steel heat treatment for burning the steel to raise the molten steel temperature, and an adhering metal melting treatment for dissolving the metal adhering to the side wall refractory by secondarily burning CO gas generated from the molten steel with oxygen gas. In addition, as described above, in the molten steel decarburization refining under reduced pressure, the CO gas generated by the decarburization reaction is secondarily burned by the oxygen gas supplied from the top blowing lance, so that the adhesion metal dissolution treatment is simultaneously performed. Done.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the RH vacuum degassing apparatus 1 includes a vacuum tank 5 including an upper tank 6 and a lower tank 7, an ascending-side dip pipe 8 and a descending-side dip pipe 9 provided below the lower tank 7. The upper tank 6 includes a duct 11 connected to an exhaust device (not shown), a raw material inlet 12 for introducing alloy iron, metal Al, or the like into the molten steel 3 inside the vacuum tank 5, and the vacuum tank 5. An upper blowing lance 13 that penetrates the upper lid and is movable in the vertical direction inside the vacuum chamber 5 is provided, and a recirculation gas blowing pipe 10 is provided in the ascending side dip pipe 8. From the reflux gas blowing tube 10, Ar gas is blown into the rising side immersion tube 8 as the reflux gas. At the tip of the upper blowing lance 13, one Laval nozzle (not shown) for blowing oxygen gas toward the inside of the vacuum chamber 5 is provided at the shaft center of the upper blowing lance 13. It is installed facing the mind.

  Here, the Laval nozzle is a nozzle having a divergent shape composed of two cones, a portion whose cross section is reduced (referred to as “throttle portion”) and a portion which is enlarged (referred to as “skirt portion”). The narrowest part of the transition to the skirt is called the throat, and a gas such as oxygen gas is passed through the throttle part, throat, and skirt part in this order. It is a divergent nozzle that is jetted as a jet. The throttle part and the skirt part do not need to be conical, and may be configured by a curved surface whose inner diameter changes in a curved manner, and the throttle part may be a straight cylindrical shape having the same inner diameter as the throat. Good.

  In the RH vacuum degassing apparatus 1, the ladle 2 containing the molten steel 3 is conveyed directly under the vacuum tank 5, and the ladle 2 is raised by an elevating device (not shown), and the ascending side dip tube 8 and the descending side dip are immersed. The tube 9 is immersed in the molten steel 3 accommodated in the pan 2. Then, Ar gas is blown into the rising side dip tube 8 from the reflux gas blowing tube 10 as a reflux gas, and the inside of the vacuum chamber 5 is exhausted by an exhaust device (not shown) connected to the duct 11. The pressure inside the vacuum chamber 5 is reduced. When the inside of the vacuum chamber 5 is depressurized, the molten steel 3 accommodated in the ladle 2 ascends the rising side dip tube 8 together with Ar gas blown from the reflux gas blowing tube 10 and flows into the vacuum chamber 5. Then, a flow returning to the ladle 2 via the descending side dip tube 9, that is, a so-called recirculation is formed, and RH vacuum degassing is performed. Inside the ladle 2 is partially mixed with slag 4 generated in the refining of the previous process such as a converter or an electric furnace to cover the surface of the molten steel 3.

  During this RH vacuum degassing refining, oxygen gas is blown and supplied from the top blowing lance 13 toward the molten steel 3 inside the vacuum chamber 5, and the molten steel decarburizing refining, molten steel heat treatment and adhesion described above are applied to the molten steel 3. We perform bullion dissolution processing. In the molten steel decarburization refining, it is necessary to increase the dissolved oxygen concentration of the molten steel 3, so that it is preferable that the molten steel 3 be in an undeoxidized or semi-deoxidized state before the decarburization refining is started. In the case of the molten steel heat treatment, the molten steel 3 is deoxidized by adding Al to the molten steel 3 until Al is present in the molten steel, and then the molten steel heat treatment is started. The adhesion metal dissolution treatment is usually performed in a state where the molten steel 3 is not deoxidized, but the molten steel 3 may be in any deoxidized state when a combustion gas such as propane gas is blown.

  In supplying oxygen gas from the top blowing lance 13, as shown in FIG. 1, the distance from the center position of the top blowing lance 13 to the refractory surface on the side wall of the vacuum tank at the molten steel surface position in the vacuum tank is R (units). : M), when the spread angle of the oxygen gas blown from the top blow lance 13 with respect to the center line of the top blow lance is θ (unit: deg.) And the lance height is H (unit: m), the lance height (H ), Distance (R), and spread angle (θ) are one of lance height (H), distance (R), and spread angle (θ) so that the relationship of the following equation (1) is satisfied. Or adjust two or more.

H ≦ (R−0.2) / tanθ (1)
However, since the distance (R) and the spread angle (θ) cannot be changed during operation, the lance height (H) is adjusted when changing during operation. When a Laval nozzle having a different spread angle (θ) is used, the lance height (H) is adjusted according to the spread angle (θ) of the Laval nozzle to be used.

  That is, in the present invention, as shown in the equation (1), at least one of the three operating conditions of the lance height (H), the distance (R), and the spread angle (θ) is adjusted. Thus, it is necessary to cause the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance 13 to collide at a position at least 0.2 m away from the side wall of the vacuum tank 5 at the position of the molten steel surface in the vacuum tank.

  When the present inventors collide the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance 13 at a position where the distance from the side wall of the vacuum chamber 5 is less than 0.2 m, the oxygen gas hitting the molten steel surface is reflected and the vacuum chamber It collided with the side wall of 5, and it has confirmed that the site | part is damaged locally. Naturally, when the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance 13 directly collides with the side wall of the vacuum chamber 5, it has been confirmed that the colliding range is locally damaged. Here, the position of the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber is a position determined by the pressure difference between the internal pressure of the vacuum chamber 5 and the atmospheric pressure, and is the lowest position on the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber as shown in FIG. And The position higher than this is affected by the flow of the molten steel 3 and the Ar gas bubbles, and is different from the position determined by the pressure difference.

  In the present invention, the lance height (H) becomes relatively small by satisfying the above expression (1). In other words, the attenuation of the oxygen gas jet from the top blowing lance 13 decreases, and the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas on the molten steel surface tends to increase. If the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas on the surface of the molten steel increases, the adhesion of the metal in the vacuum chamber due to spitting becomes intense. To prevent this, in the present invention, the movement of the oxygen gas jet on the surface of the molten steel is avoided. It is necessary to control the pressure to 2 kPa or less. The dynamic pressure is expressed as a function of the velocity and density of the oxygen gas jet.

  Since the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas jet on the molten steel surface is affected by the supply pressure of the oxygen gas supplied to the upper blowing lance 13, the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas jet on the molten steel surface is adjusted by adjusting the supply pressure of the oxygen gas. The pressure can be controlled to 2 kPa or less.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the oxygen gas blown from the top blowing lance 13 toward the molten steel surface in the vacuum tank does not directly hit the side wall refractory of the vacuum tank 5, so Since oxygen gas is blown from 13, it is possible to prevent local damage of the refractory on the side wall of the vacuum chamber, and the dynamic pressure of oxygen gas at the molten steel surface at that time is controlled to 2 kPa or less, so that by spitting It is possible to prevent adhesion of the metal in the vacuum chamber at the same time.

  The upper blowing lance 13 shown in FIG. 1 is installed at the center position of the vacuum chamber 5, and the distance between the upper blowing lance 13 and the side wall of the vacuum chamber is the same in any direction. If the tank 5 is installed eccentrically with respect to the center, the distance from the vacuum tank side wall on the eccentric side becomes short. Therefore, when the upper blowing lance 13 is installed eccentrically, the oxygen gas jet from the upper blowing lance 13 is at least 0.2 m away from the side wall of the vacuum chamber 5 existing in the direction of the shortest distance. Just make it collide.

The inner diameter of the vacuum chamber, that is, the distance (R) from the center position of the upper blowing lance to the refractory surface on the side wall of the vacuum chamber is 1.1 m, and the spread angle (θ) of oxygen gas blown from the upper blowing lance is 8 deg. Using RH vacuum degassing equipment, oxygen gas supply rate is 2500Nm ³ / Hr, and lance height (H) is 8m (level 1), 6m (level 2), 4m (level 3). The decarburization refining of molten steel was carried out. The dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas jet on the surface of the molten steel was 0.4 kPa, 2.0 kPa, and 2.7 kPa at level 1, level 2, and level 3, respectively.

  Under these conditions, 100 heat decarburization refining was carried out to produce ultra-low carbon steel. After 100 heat decarburization refining, the damage situation of the refractory inside the vacuum chamber was investigated.

  As a result, at level 1, local damage of the refractory inside the vacuum chamber was observed. Moreover, at level 3, the adhesion of the metal to the vacuum tank side wall is intense, and the trouble of the carbon concentration in the molten steel deviating from the standard occurs due to the fall of the metal in the molten steel during the refining, and stable decarburization refining. It was difficult. On the other hand, at level 2, which is within the scope of the present invention, no local damage of the refractory was observed, and no adhesion of metal to the side wall of the vacuum chamber was observed.

  Conventionally, the lifetime of the vacuum chamber has been determined due to local damage of the refractories on the inner wall of the vacuum chamber, but according to the present invention, local damage is not generated and the lifetime of the vacuum chamber is improved by about 20%.

It is the schematic of the RH vacuum degassing apparatus to which this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 RH vacuum degassing apparatus 2 Ladle 3 Molten steel 4 Slag 5 Vacuum tank 6 Upper tank 7 Lower tank 8 Ascending side immersion pipe 9 Decreasing side immersion pipe 10 Recirculation gas injection pipe 11 Duct 12 Raw material inlet 13 Upper blowing lance

Claims (1)

When refining molten steel while blowing oxygen gas from the top blowing lance toward the molten steel surface in the vacuum tank, the distance from the molten steel surface in the vacuum tank to the top of the top blowing lance, and the lance height, The relationship between the spread angle of the oxygen gas to be blown to the center line of the top lance and the distance from the center position of the top lance at the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber to the refractory surface of the vacuum chamber wall is given by the following equation (1) Of the molten steel in the RH vacuum degassing apparatus, wherein the oxygen gas is supplied so that the dynamic pressure of the oxygen gas on the molten steel surface is 2 kPa or less. Refining method.
H ≦ (R−0.2) / tanθ (1)
However, in the formula (1), each symbol represents the following.
H: Lance height (m)
R: Distance from the center position of the top lance at the molten steel surface in the vacuum chamber to the refractory surface of the vacuum chamber wall (m)
θ: Spreading angle of the oxygen gas blown from the top blowing lance with respect to the center line of the top blowing lance (deg.)

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