Decarburization of Fe/C melts in a crucible: Effects of bath sulfur level and bath surface area

Experiments to investigate decarburization of Fe/C/S melts in a crucible were carried out. The effects of the concentration of sulfur and the surface area of bath open to reaction were investigated. Using controlled Fe/C melts, it was found that sulfur significantly retards the decarburization of Fe/C melts. The retardation reached its maximum for sulfur concentrations higher than 0.1%. Similar results were also obtained for melts of commercial type metal. Retardation was observed when either O2 and/or CO2 were used as a decarburizing gas. Sulfur in the melt did not react with the oxidizing gas during decarburization. It was also observed that the formation of droplets was enhanced by the presence of sulfur. Finally the effects of surface tension, known as the Marangoni effect, were clearly observed during experiments.

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