Feasibility of developing steel vacuuming technology at "Kametstal" PJSC

Abstract

The work is devoted to the consideration of the feasibility of developing in the converter shop of PJSC "Kametstal" (DMK) the technology of vacuum degassing of carbon and flake-sensitive steel grades using modern equipment for the appropriate purpose in order to reduce the content of gases and non-metallic inclusions in metal products. Vacuuming of liquid metal outside a steel-smelting unit has opened up fundamentally new opportunities for increasing the entire complex of physical and mechanical properties of steel for various purposes and the efficiency of metallurgical production. The manifestation of significant interest in this process in the twentieth century was caused by the fact that it opened up new, more advanced technological capabilities in the implementation of deep deoxidation, decarbonization, alloying and degassing, which provided a significant increase in the quality of the steel produced. An important feature of the vacuum degassing process is the possibility of carrying out, at a slight vacuum (0.5-5.0 mm Hg), a sufficiently deep deoxidation of the metal contained in it with carbon, during which dissolved gases are simultaneously removed. This makes it possible to abandon the use of manganese, silicon, and in some cases aluminum as deoxidizers and thus solve the most difficult problem of steelmaking - obtaining clean steel in terms of the content of non-metallic inclusions and gases. At domestic metallurgical and machine-building enterprises, with the help of chamber-type vacuum degassing installations (VD), the production of steel of various grades has been mastered. One circulation-type degassing unit (RH) is also in operation in Sumy. At modern foreign metallurgical and machine-building enterprises, effective use of vacuum degassing installations of RH, DH (batch type) and VD types has been found. Moreover, in the last decade, the use of the RH method has expanded significantly, especially in the metallurgical industry of European countries, the USA and Japan. The current work is devoted to the consideration of an important issue for DMK - the determination of methods for vacuum degassing of steel that are acceptable for the conditions of the enterprise, taking into account the characteristics of the grade of steel produced now and in the near future.