The effect of boron oxide on the crystallization behavior of MgAl2O4 spinel phase during the cooling of the CaO-SiO2-10 mass.% MgO-30 mass.%Al2O3 systems

The microstructural characteristics of the CaO-SiO₂-B₂O₃-10 mass.% MgO-30 mass.% Al₂O₃ systems solidified during slow cooling from 1600 °C were investigated using SEM-EDS and a thermochemical computation package. The effect of boron oxide on the crystallization behavior of the spinel in the aluminosilicate system was observed because boron oxide is believed to become a potential flux to reduce the melting point of the liquid oxides. The primary crystalline phase was spinel, mainly MgAl₂O₄, irrespective of the boron content. The liquidus temperature T _L continuously decreased as the boron oxide content increased, indicating that the boron oxide decreased the activity of the MgAl₂O₄ spinel phase in liquid melts at high temperatures. The size of the spinel crystals increased as the temperature range for the solid + liquid coexisting region, viz. the mushy zone, increased. In the present systems, because the T _L continuously decreased with the increase in the boron oxide content, the viscosity of the liquid oxide may have affected the crystallization behavior of the spinel during cooling. Based on these results, an injection of a small amount of B₂O₃ flux into molten steel containing liquid aluminosilicate inclusions is not recommended because large spinel crystals can originate from the changes in the thermophysical properties of the liquid inclusions due to the incorporation of boron oxide into the aluminosilicate networks.