Evaluation of High Temperatures Behaviour of the Usiminas Blast Furnace Ferrous Burden Materials

摘要

Softening and melting characteristics of blast furnace ferrous burden materials have become more stringent as furnace productivity has been increased in accordance with higher pulverized coal injections rates. For a smooth furnace operation, good softening and melting characteristics of burden materials including sinter, pellets and lump ores should be ensured, in order to keep the cohesive zone deep in the furnace and to have a high gas utilization in the shaft. With the development at Usiminas of experimental equipment to evaluate the ferrous burden high temperature behaviour, efforts have been made in studies of optimization of the softening and melting characteristics of sinter and pellets and on appropriate selection of lump ores. This paper presents and discusses the results obtained with the evaluation of the high temperature properties of Usiminas blast furnace burden materials.