Model Steel Making – Process Metallurgy Module

About the Process Metallurgy Module

The Process Metallurgy Module is an Add-on Module within Thermo-Calc that makes it easy to set up calculations for steel and slag. The Module also includes a kinetic model that allows the simulation of the evolution of the steel and slag composition and also the inclusion amount and composition as a function of time based on the actual steelmaking process, including alloy or slag additions, blowing of gases into the steel, heating by electric arc, and so on.

The Module is primarily designed for application to steelmaking and steel reﬁning processes including converters, such as basic oxygen furnaces, electric arc furnaces, ladle furnace metallurgy, and more. The Module can also be applied to other metallurgical processes.

Designed for the Process Metallurgist

If you work in steel processing or other metallurgical industries, the Process Metallurgy Module can help you better understand your steelmaking and steel refining process. You can gain insights into production processes that are not available with measurements, optimize your current process parameters, or design new steel making recipes if you are planning to expand your product portfolio to include new steel grades.

Questions the Process Metallurgy Module Can Help You Answer

How does the temperature, oxygen partial pressure, slag amount, and slag composition influence the sulfur and phosphorus content in the steel?
How does the temperature and slag composition influence the fraction of liquid slag?
How does the temperature and slag composition influence the slag-line refractory erosion?
What is the expected dissolved oxygen [O] in the liquid steel as a function of steelmaking parameters on tapping from the converter or electric arc furnace before deoxidation? What is the expected content of all other elements in the liquid steel?
What is the expected dissolved oxygen [O] in the steel after Al- or SiMn-deoxidation?
What types and what quantity of oxide inclusions are present in the liquid steel after deoxidation?
How can these inclusions be altered or modified by alloy or other additions?
How is the temperature changed by the process, for example, by oxidation?
How does the composition of inblown gas change the temperature?
What is the influence of the pressure on the process?
What is the composition of the slag after a process?

All of these questions can be investigated both under equilibrium conditions, as well as for a complete kinetic simulation of your steelmaking or steel refining process.

Ratio-of-liquid-slag-to-all-slag-in-the-system-using-the-Process-Metallurgy-Module-in-Thermo-Calc — A plot from the Process Metallurgy Module showing the ratio of liquid slag to all slag in the system CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 (blue contour lines) and CaO-10 wt% CaF2-Al2O3-SiO2 (red contour lines) at 1600°C in equilibrium with a steel phase showing the extended liquid region on CaF2 addition.

The Process Metallurgy Module Allows You To

Simulate the kinetics of the metallurgical process
Define steel, slag, ferroalloy compositions and store them in a library for future use
Calculate the equilibrium between predefined steels and slags
Calculate desulfurization, dephosphorization, decarburization
Calculate any partition coefficient
Calculate slag characteristics, such as slag basicity or sulfur capacity, viscosity
Calculate the fraction of liquid and solid in the slag
Calculate under both isothermal conditions (temperature fixed) and adiabatic conditions (temperature changes due to exothermal or endothermal reactions taking place)
Calculate the influence of pressure on the reactions taking place. Used for example for the analysis of vacuum treatment.
Run high-throughput calculations varying parameters such as composition or temperature*
Integrate calculations and process simulations directly with the data available in steel plants, for example from a data warehouse* **
Integrate Process Metallurgy calculations into other software using Python or MATLAB®*

*Requires a license for TC-Python or TC-Toolbox for MATLAB^®

** The actual integration needs to be programmed by the customer using either Python or MATLAB^®

Sulphur-content-varies-in-liquid-steel-depending-upon-slag-contents_06 — *A plot from the Process Metallurgy Module* *showing the amount of sulfur in liquid steel in equilibrium with a CaO-Al2O3-SiO2 slag*. The red colors in the upper right-hand corner at high silicon dioxide (SiO2) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) contents show that the steel contains high amounts of sulfur. This means that only a little of the sulfur in the liquid steel partitioned into the slag phase and tells us that the slag phase has a poor capacity to take up sulfur. The blue colors in the lower left-hand corner indicate that the liquid steel contains only very low amounts of sulfur, so this would indicate a slag composition that is very effective at removing sulfur, or in other words, has a high sulfur capacity.

Easy Workflow for Steel and Slag Calculations

The Process Metallurgy Module makes it easy to define the composition of a steel and slag system because the calculator automatically provides the three common material groups—steel, slag, and gas— and provides default composition input types that are relevant to each material group.

You can save your material compositions right from the calculator and quickly access them in the future. For example, you might want to predefine compositions of steels, ferro-alloys, slags, and slag additions. The overall composition of the steel and slag is then obtained by simply adding amounts of these predefined materials.

Full Integration into Our Software Development Kits

All functionality in the Process Metallurgy Module is also available in TC-Python and TC-Toolbox for MATLAB^®. This makes it possible to easily run high-throughput calculations varying parameters such as composition or temperature. It is possible to set up very complicated process simulations that are hard to configure in the Graphical User Interface. Additionally, one can provide plant data directly from a data warehouse to drive process simulations and other types of calculations*.

* The actual integration needs to be programmed by the customer using either Python or MATLAB^®

TC-Python | TC-Toolbox for MATLAB^®

Application Examples

We have developed several in-depth application examples demonstrating how the Process Metallurgy Module can be used to investigate various steps in the steelmaking process, including steel deoxidation on tapping, desulphurization, refining in a ladle furnace, and more. Each example includes a detailed write-up describing why you would make the calculation, how to set it up in Thermo-Calc, and interpretation of the results.

Read the Application Examples

Model Steelmaking

Process Metallurgy Module

About the Process Metallurgy Module

Designed for the Process Metallurgist

Questions the Process Metallurgy Module Can Help You Answer

The Process Metallurgy Module Allows You To

Easy Workflow for Steel and Slag Calculations

Full Integration into Our Software Development Kits

Application Examples

Availability

Learn More about the Process Metallurgy Module

Let Us Help You

Find the Right Products