Investigation of a novel ceramic coating for graphite electrodes in electric ARC furnaces using numerical simulation, experimental method, and industrial testing

Electric ARC furnaces (EAF) are referred to as a set of furnaces in which the process of melting metal materials takes place using an electric ARC. The temperature of melting and discharging in these furnaces is different and can vary between 1600 and 3000 celcius. These furnaces can use lime, fluorine, iron, etc., and ferroalloys to produce metal products such as steel or cast iron. The production of EAF metal products depends on various factors, including graphite electrodes. Electric electrodes are one of the main components of EAF, which transfer the current by creating an electric ARC from the electrode arms to the furnace load. Nowadays, a growing need is felt for using graphite electrodes in electric ARC furnaces (EAF). The validity of SiO2/ TiO2 productive coating is evaluated to decrease the corrosion resistance of graphite electrodes through the experiments. The corrosion of the graphite samples was simulated using finite element (FE) simulation in ANSYS software. FE simulation was used to model the actual working condition of electrodes in the EAF. The validity of SiO2/TiO2 productive coating is evaluated to decrease the corrosion of electrodes by using numerical simulation, experimental methods, and industrial testing in the EAF. All the tests and experiments performed in this study were to obtain a more precise consideration of the corrosion of electrodes. Also, using the TGA (Thermo-gravimetric analysis), the results show that this ceramic coating has a prominent role in decreasing the corrosion of electrodes at high temperatures. Finally, it was realized that coating the surface of graphite electrode with two layers of SiO2/ TiO2 would effectively decrease the consumption of graphite electrodes.