Use of refractories in steel-pouring systems of OOO NPP Vulkan-TM production

Abstract

The main ways of reducing expenditure for steel pouring are considered, i.e. import substitution and the optimum frequency of using plates for slide gates. Technical and economic analysis is provided for the use of refractory objects in steel-pouring systems produced by OOO NPP Vulkan-TM.Under conditions of an increasing economic crisis a guarantee for the survival of Russian metallurgical enterprises is the possibility of a considerable reduction in production delays. The scientific and production enterprise Vulkan-TM proposes a reduction in losses in steel smelting and to reduce the import dependence of domestic enterprises by use of steel-pouring slide systems of the VTM series and refractories consumed by them. Here with a reduction in refractory consumption, the content and restoration of the stock of slide gates, ladle logistics are optimized with a reduction in energy consumed in warming up ladles and an increase in lining life, and the accident rate is reduced.The structure of expenditure is presented in Fig. 1 directly for steel pouring refractories, from which a definitive role of plates for slide gate plates is evident.Currently NPP Vulkan-TM in order to optimize expenditure has developed and introduced into series production a range of unified sliding system constructions of the VTM series, and corresponding to them, sets of consumable refractory objects, and they have been supplied to more than ten enterprises of the Russian Federation and CIS.Gates of the VTM series (Fig. 2) have been adapted for production conditions of contemporary electric steel smelting and converter production. Slide gates within the framework of a single size may have small structural differences in relation to operating conditions, refractory sets have been unified to a maximum, and they may only differ in the construction of the nesting block and delivery part of the nozzle-collector in relation to the presence and type of protective pipe.Within the composition of a typical set of VTM refractories there are:1. Plates for the slide gate in a shroud prepared from fired billets of plates form the leading overseas producers. Refractories are selected in relation to the specific steel pouring conditions, that makes it possible to add to their optimum life. Supply is offered to customers of plates of periclase (1 -2 melts), corundum-carbon (2 -4 melts) and periclasecarbon (1 -2 melts) compositions. Calculations and operat- Fig. 1. Structure of expenditure on refractories during pouring using slide gates, %: 1 ) plate 42; 2 ) nozzle-collector 18; 3 ) ladle nozzle 5; 4 ) mortar 6; 5 ) nesting block 13; 6 ) restoration of slide gate stock 16.