Model Development to Study Uncertainties in Electric Arc Furnace Plants to Improve Their Economic and Environmental Performance

A statistical model is developed in order to simulate the melt composition in electric arc furnaces (EAFs) with respect to uncertainties in 1) scrap composition, 2) scrap weighing and 3) element distribution factors. The tramp element Cu and alloying element Cr are taken into account. The model enables simulations of a charge program as well as backwards estimations of the element concentrations and their variance in scrap. In the backwards calculation, the maximum likelihood method is solved by considering three cases corresponding to the involved uncertainties. It is shown that the model can estimate standard deviations for elements so that the real values lie within the estimated 95% confidence interval. Moreover, the results of the model application in each target product show that the estimated scrap composition results in a melt composition, which is in good agreement with the measured one. The model can be applied to increase our understanding of scrap chemical composition and lower the charged material cost and carbon footprint of the products.

Removal of Tramp Elements within 7075 Alloy by Super-Gravity Aided Rheorefining Method

An investigation was made on the super-gravity aided rheorefining process of recycled 7075 aluminum alloy in order to remove tramp elements. The separation temperatures in this study were selected as 609 °C, 617 °C and 625 °C. And the gravity coefficients were set as 400 G, 700 G, 1000 G. The finely distributed impurity inclusions will aggregate to the grain boundaries of Al-enriched phase during heat treatment. In the field of super-gravity, the liquid phase composed of tramp elements Zn, Cu, Mg et al. will flow through the gaps between solid Al-enriched grains and form into filtrate. Both the weight of filtrate and removal ratio of tramp element improved with the increase of gravity coefficient. The total removal ratio of tramp element decreased with the fall of temperature due to the flowability deterioration of liquid phase. The time for effective separation of liquid/solid phases with super-gravity can be restricted within 1 min.

3d Mapping Of Light-Element Segregation In 316 Stainless Steel By Atom Probe

A vanadium-bearing variant of 316 stainless steel that was rapid solidification processed (RSP) by gas atomization and hot extrusion of the powder (10:1 extrusion ratio at 900°C) has been studied previously by conventional atom probe field ion microscopy (APFIM). The mechanical properties of this steel were markedly improved by RSP and aging (600°C for 1000 hours). High nitrogen (0.45 at% (0.2 wt%)) and oxygen (0.16 at% (0.05 wt%)) contents were intentionally introduced by melting under 80% nitrogen/20% oxygen gas and atomizing in nitrogen gas. A nominal boron concentration of 0.04 at% (0.01 wt%)) is present as a tramp element. As a result, a large number density (˜ 2 × 1021 m-3) of 25 nm plate-like vanadium-rich nitrides precipitate during aging of the alloy and these precipitates contribute a major portion of the strengthening. Previous efforts to locate the oxygen in the structure using APFIM were inconclusive largely due to poor counting statistics.