Thermal analysis techniques applied to study wear mechanisms of black refractories used in the steel continuous casting process

Abstract

In this paper, the results are correlated with information obtained through conventional techniques such as optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) including EDS analysis and EBSD, that are used to characterize different structural aspects on the refractory material and of the interface with the moud flux adhered on the nozzle. The thermodynamic simulation of the corrosion also contribute with relevant information associated to the main goal of this paper. By the thermochemical simulations, the chemical reactions in the system between nozzle and mold flux are justified. All this information is useful to stablish the coorrosion mechanisms and to predict the dynamic process conditions that cause the damage in the refractory material, in order to improve the nozzle performance.