Survey of melt stream infrared radiation parameters at various stages of steel tapping from basic oxygen furnace.

Current world economic recession and high competition in the market of ferrous metallurgy products make the issue of improving the efficiency of the steel-making process especially pressing. One of the ways to improve the efficiency of a steel-making unit is to provide the sufficient minimum content of furnace slag in a pouring ladle. It can be achieved by permanent real-time monitoring of the melt stream during tapping from the steel-making unit. The most efficient way to monitor the melt stream is the method based on control of infrared radiation from the steel being tapped. The article offers the analysis of arrays of infrared radiation values from operating steel-making units of the largest smelters of Russia. The authors give some practical design recommendations for monitoring systems of melt stream in the process of tapping from the steel-making unit. They also describe the rule of slag detection in the melt stream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]