Abstract
Water model experiments were performed in a full-scale, delta-shaped water model tundish, in order to study the removal of inclusions by micro-bubbles. Micro-bubbles were generated using a specially designed ladle shroud with twelve laser-drilled orifices. Gas flow rates, injection positions and multi-port injection were all taken into consideration to create different bubble conditions. Bubbles were recorded using a high speed camera and post-processed with commercial software, Image J. Hollow glass borosilicate microspheres, smaller than 100 µm, were used to simulate inclusions, and detected, in-situ, using a new generation of the Aqueous Particle Sensor, APS III. The results revealed that the effect of micro-bubbles on inclusion removal depends greatly on the gas injection protocols used. The optimum gas flow rate was an intermediate value, which indicates a minimum particle number density, np, of about 7.85/ml. This results from the counter-balancing effects of bubble sizes against the total number of bubbles. The highest inclusion removal rate was 80%, when gas was injected through the four ports located closest to the slide gate, at a gas flow rate of 0.2 L/min.
