Decarburization and Desulphurization in Steel Making

Carbon is the single most important alloying element for steel. Below is a table of
typical carbon levels, properties and applications.

Ultra Low Carbon Low Carbon steel Medium Carbon High Carbon
steel steel steel
Carbon <0.01 %C <0.25 %C 0.25-0.7 %C 0.7-1.3 %C
Properties • High strength • Reasonable strength • High strength • Very hard
• High toughness • High ductility • High • Low
• Good formability • Excellent fabrication toughness toughness
Treatment Quenched Annealed, normalized Quenched and Quenched
tempered and
tempered
Applications Sheet materials Structural steels, Shafts, gears, Springs,
for automobiles, sheet materials for connecting dies, cutting
pipe-lines, etc. automobiles, white rods, rails, etc. tools, etc.
goods, etc.

The 'hot metal' that arrives from the blast furnace still contains about 4.7 %C - i.e.
far in excess of the levels given above. Basic Oxygen Steelmaking involves the
reduction of most of the carbon, silicon, manganese and phosphorus in the hot
metal by blasting a supersonic jet of oxygen at the charge. The steel at tap will
contain between 0.03-0.07 %C.

For many grades/applications therefore, carbon must be added to the steel again
during secondary steelmaking.

However for many demanding grades, a further reduction in carbon is required.

In this section you will learn how this is achieved.

Decarburization Chemistry

Carbon removal from the steel is achieved through reaction with dissolved
oxgygen to form gaseous carbon monoxide bubbles, i.e.

[C] + [O] → CO (Equ 1)

Applying the mass action law:

KCO = pCO / aC aO (Equ 2)

where KCO is the equilibrium constant, pCO is the CO pressure, and aC and aO
are the activities (or concentrations) of C and O respectively.
The equilibrium constant itself is given by:

log KC-O = −(1168/T) + 2.07 (Equ 3)

where T is the absolute temperature, in K.

Equations (2) and (3) tell us that the reaction will be influenced by both pressure
and temperature.

Effect of Pressure and Temperature I

By re-arranging the mass action law, we can write:

[O] = pCO / [C] KCO

Explore this relationship between the carbon and oxygen concentrations using
the interactive graph.

How does varying temperature affect [C]? Would you chose a higher or lower
decarburization temperature?

How does varying pressure affect [C]? Would vacuum treatment aid
decarburization?

Which of the two parameters has the greatest effect on [C]?

Effect of Pressure and Temperature II

If the pressure above the steel is reduced to 0.1 atmosphere, pCO will also drop to
0.1 atmosphere and the equilibrium [C].[O] product will decrease accordingly.

A driving force for carbon monoxide evolution from the steel now exists - C and O
will be be removed in the ratio 12:16, as determined by their respective atomic
masses.

The injection of additional oxygen into the steel can be used to produce very low
carbon levels (e.g. <0.001%).
Degassing Processes

The most usual forms of vacuum treatment are:

• tank degassing, and

• recirculation degassing

The main process control parameters are pressure and Ar-stirring.

Tank Degasser
 Recirculation degasser

Why Control Sulphur Content?

Sulphur is present in solid steel as manganese sulphide (MnS) inclusions. Their

volume fraction, size, shape and distribution depend on the sulphur content,
oxygen content, solidification rate, degree of hot and cold deformation and hot
working temperatures.

These MnS inclusions have several effects on the processing and properties of
steel. Mainly these effects are detrimental, as these inclusions are more plastic
than steel and, hence, during deformation they act as crack initiation sites and
zones of weakness.

Sulphur is detrimental to ductility, toughness, formability, weldability and

corrosion resistance. However, sulphur is beneficial to machinability.

Sufficient manganese must be present in the steel to prevent the formation of

iron sulphide, which is highly detrimental to hot workability and leads to severe
cracking during hot rolling (hot shortness).
Sulphur Specifications

The most demanding applications of steel require the sulphur levels to reduce to
very low levels (<0.001% S) in order to achieve the required combination of
strength, ductility, formability and weldability. For applications which are
extensively machined during manufacturing higher sulphur levels are required.

Removal of Sulphur

The sulphur content from the BOS or EAF is typically 0.01 - 0.02%. In order to
satisfy the low sulphur specifications, it is necessary to remove sulphur from the
steel during secondary steelmaking. Sulphur is removed by slag-liquid metal
reactions under reducing conditions in which sulphur is transferred from the steel
through the slag-metal interface and into the slag.

The basic chemical reaction in desulphurization is:

3(CaO) + 2[Al] + 3[S] 3(CaS) + (Al2O3)

( ) in slag and [ ] in steel.

The partitioning (Ls) between the sulphur in the slag (S) and steel [S] is given by:

where Cs is the sulphur capacity of the slag and a0 is activity of oxygen in the
steel.

Slag is an ionic solution of various oxides and fluxes. The type of slag required
for these reactions is quite different from the highly oxidizing slag produced in the
BOS/EAF. An important part of secondary steelmaking is the creation of the
required sulphur reducing slag.

Source: Steeluniversity.com