Melting behavior of isolated metallized pellet in slag-iron bath

The utilization of metallized pellets in electric arc furnace represents a pivotal strategy for the iron and steel industry to attain a green transformation. However, their low melting rate limits their application, making it essential to understand the melting characteristics of metallized pellet and the factors that influence their melting rate. A model of isolated metallized pellet in slag-iron bath was established and verified by published experimental data. In the molten pool formed by the melting of metallized pellet, the melting process of isolated metallized pellet can be divided into three stages: the frozen shell formation stage, the frozen shell remelting stage, and the metallized pellet parent melting stage. In addition, increasing the preheating temperature of the metallized pellet and the temperature of slag-iron bath, along with reducing size and slag content of metallized pellet, can enhance the melting efficiency. The simulation results indicate that increasing the preheating temperature of the metallized pellet to 1300 K can shorten the melting time by 74.83%; increasing the temperature of slag-iron bath to 1923 K can shorten the melting time by 21.52%; reducing the size of the metallized pellet to 15 mm can shorten the melting time by 41.21%; reducing the slag content of the metallized pellet to 30% can shorten the melting time by 22.79%.