Abstract
A critical experiment was carried out on the gaseous diffusion mechanism in the decarburization from liquid iron in a crucible by oxiding gas. The solid graphite or the liquid iron-carbon alloy both in a crucible with the same size was oxidized by the gas mixture of carbon monoxide and dioxide.
The results are as follows;
(1) The apparent rates of oxidation of carbon were same both for the cases of graphite and a high carbon content iron alloy.
(2) The apparent rate of graphite oxidation increased with the temperature.
(3) The rate increased with the increase of carbon dioxide content in the reactant gas mixture.
(4) The rate increased with the increase of the flow rate of the gas mixture.
(5) From the observation of the surface after the reaction, it was found that the reaction does not take place uniformly all over the surface.
(6) The fraction of carbon dioxide reacted is more than 70% at 1550°C.
From the close checks of the above experimental results, it seems that the reaction hardly takes place in steady state with the rate-determining step of gaseous diffusion in the present experimental condi-tions.
