Analysis of steel-slag-air multiphase flow and initial solidification in a slab mold with argon blowing

A combined approach of numerical simulation and water model experiments was employed to investigate the steel-slag-air multiphase fiow behavior and initial solidification characteristics in a 200 mm 9 1248 mm slab mold with varying submerged entry nozzle (SEN) inclination angles and argon-blowing rates. The results demonstrated that as the argon-blowing rate increases from 0 to 15 L/min, the fiuctuation amplitude at the steel-slag interface expands from 6.4 to 14.3 mm. When the argon-blowing rate ranges between 0 and 10 L/min, the shell thickness at both narrow and wide faces increases from 6.68 and 23.1 to 12.38 and 27.11 mm, respectively, but excessive blowing rates lead to shell thinning. The steel exposure behavior is eliminated as the SEN is inclined downward. As the SEN inclination angle decreases from upward 12° to downward 15°, the relationship between the SEN inclination angle and shell thickness growth exhibits nonlinear characteristics. The shell thickness at mold out ranges from 9.71 to 20 mm at the narrow face and 12.49 to 27 mm at the wide face. The superior parameters are with 10 L/min argon fiow and 12° downward nozzle inclination, delivering no slay layer while achieving mold exit shell thicknesses of 11.63 mm at the narrow face and 26.5 mm at the wide face.