Improving the performance of the RKO-16.5 furnace in smelting 65 percent ferrosilicon

摘要

The need to increase the output of transformer steel at Novolipetskii Metallurgicheskii Kombinat (NLMK) Joint Stock Company has prompted the smelting of FS65 ferrosilicon (including type-I ferrosilicon) containing < 0.5 percent Al at the RKO-16.5 furnace, taking account of many years' experience in producing this alloy at the RKO-10.5 furnaces. The basic technical data for the RKO-16.5/RKO-10.5 furnaces are as follows: The following factors complicate the smelting of FS65 ferrosilicon in the RKO-16.5 furnace: the lack of a universal well-founded method of calculating rational parameters and operating conditions for ore furnaces, on account of the complex and close relationship between the electrical, thermal, and physicochemical processes occurring in the furnace bath, the presence of temperature zones of significantly different structure, the many stages in the phase transitions accompanying the processing of the batch, and the many circumstances influencing the final furnace operating characteristics [1-3]; the unsuitability of the electrical and geometric parameters of the RKO-16.5 furnace for smelting ferrosilicon, since they are intended for the smelting of ferromanganese.