A New Device for Subsurface Ladle Additions

Abstract

This paper describes the development and implementation of a device, by means of which subsurface additions were made to steel in a ladle. Design features were established from experimental work conducted with a pilot scale model. A large scale device was subsequently constructed and melt shop tests performed using a 65 ton ladle. Three inch diameter bars or tubes fiUed with crushed materials were fed into the steel by means of a pinch roll mechanism. Simultaneously, argon was injected through the lance head to promote ladle mixing and temperature homogenization. The device can be used for sequencing ladle additions and for adding elements which are toxic or highly volatile. It could also have application in desulfurizing hot metal, adding inoculants to cast iron and decopperizing lead.