Thermodynamic assessment of the Al deoxidation reaction in liquid iron

Abstract

The deoxidation reaction of aluminum in liquid iron has been investigated thermodynamically using Al2O3 crucible at 1873 K under Ar atmosphere as a fundamental study for the accurate control of inclusions in the ladle refining process. In addition to the equilibrium constant log K-Al for the aluminum deoxidation reaction, the first-order and second-order interaction parameters between aluminum and oxygen were experimentally determined in the concentration range of aluminum up to 1 %. The temperature dependence of the equilibrium constant and the first-order interaction parameter e(O)(Al) was also obtained: log K-A1= 12.32-47400/T, e(O)(Al) = 15.57-36500/T. The equilibrium relation between aluminum and oxygen contents in the aluminum deoxidized iron by applying interaction parameters and the equilibrium constant determined in this work satisfies fairly well the equilibrium data over the whole concentration range of aluminum considered.