Abstract
The removal of hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur during vacuum degassing of a tool steel grade was studied. Both slag and steel samples were collected before and after vacuum treatment for 10 heats. From these, the chemical compositions of steel and slag were determined. Thereafter, the removal rates of sulphur, hydrogen and nitrogen were calculated. For sulphur and hydrogen only first order reaction models were considered. However, for nitrogen both first order and second order kinetic models were studied. The results showed that the removal of hydrogen and nitrogen can be described with first order reaction models. However, the removal rate of sulphur follows the equilibrium sulphur content at all stages during the vacuum degassing. It is also clear that after 10 min of degassing the hydrogen and nitrogen removal is more or less finished for the studied steel grade. However, the sulphur refining can still be carried out for longer times to reach lower values.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.