Abstract
A study has been made of the formation of bubbles from single nozzles in liquid iron. The size of bubbles is determined by a pressure pulse technique. Nozzles used in the experiments are of the sizes 0.32-0.67cm in O.D. and 0.12-0.33cm in I.D. The gas flow rate and the oxygen concentration in liquid iron are varied from 0.1 to 36 cc/sec at 1600°C and 0.0040-0.046%, respectively. The experiments are carried out under conditions where the gas chamber volume has no influence on bubble formation. At lower gas flow rates, the bubble diameter (dB) is determined by the nozzle outer diameter (dn0), liquid density (ρ1) and surface tension (σ). At higher gas flow rates, the bubble diameter depends on the gas-flow rate (Vg) and nozzle outer diameter, being independent of the physical properties of the liquid. It is shown that the following equation is applicable for describing the size of bubbles in liquid iron in the whole range of explored gas flow rates.
