Determination of inclusions in liquid steel after calcium treatment

Nozzle blocking was eliminated by calcium-treated liquid steel through changing the chemical and phase composition of alumina inclusions in aluminium-killed steel. Three different methods were applied to determine the composition of inclusions in liquid steel: total oxygen content samples, sampling spoon samples, and “lollipop” steel samples. The results show that calcium modification of liquid steel influences the inclusion composition varying from 2wt% to 14wt% depending on the method used. The composition of inclusions contains mainly Al₂O₃-CaO only, or is associated with SiO₂ or MgO depending on the initial input. The methods used in this study are indicators of the inclusion composition but can be improved to quantify the inclusion size.