Study of Open Eye Formation in an Argon Stirred Ladle

Two cold models were employed to simulate the formation of open‐eyes in a gas stirred ladle. In the first model, water and silicon oils were employed to simulate liquid steel and slag respectively. In the second one, liquid Ga‐In‐Sn alloy was used to simulate liquid steel, while 12% hydrochloric acid simulated the top slag. The experimental results indicated that the gas flow rate, height of the lower liquid and height of the top liquid had a strong impact on the open‐eye size. On the other hand, the viscosity of the top liquid and the interfacial tension between the two liquids had only little effect on the open‐eye size. A semi‐empirical model was developed to describe the size of open‐eye as a function of the heights of the two liquids and the gas flow rate. The two sets of parameters obtained for the water and Ga‐In‐Sn models were very different. Industrial trials were also conducted to examine the applicability of the models. The model developed based on the Ga‐In‐Sn model could well predict the formation of an open‐eye during ladle treatment. The model could be adopted by the industry to estimate the real gas flow rate by measuring the size of the open‐eye online. On the other hand, the mathematical model based on water model experiments was unsatisfactory when applied to the industrial ladle process.