Decarburization rate of RH refining for ultra low carbon steel

The decarburization behaviors of ultra low carbon steel in a 210-t RH vacuum degasser were investigated under practical operating conditions. According to the apparent decarburization rate constant (K_C) calculated by the carbon content in the samples taken from the hot melt in a ladle at an interval of 1–2 min, it is observed that the total decarburization reaction period in RH can be divided into the quick decarburization period and the stagnant decarburization period, which is quite different from the traditional one with three stages. In this study, the average apparent decarburization rate constant during the quick decarburization period is 0.306 min^-1, and that of the stagnant period is 0.072 min^-1. Increasing the initial carbon content and enhancing the exhausting capacity can increase the apparent decarburization rate constant in the quick decarburization period. The decarburization reaction comes into the stagnant decarburization period when the carbon content in molten steel is less than 14×10^-6 after 10 min of decarburization.