Ladle Nozzle Clogging during casting of Silicon-Steel

To figure out the reason causing ladle nozzle clogging during a continuous casting process (or CC for short) for the silicon steel and get a way to solve it, this paper studied the theoretical calculation of flow rates during casting, inclusions around the slide gate where ladle nozzle clogging happened, and Ca-treatment on refining units for producing the silicon steel. The results showed that: The bigger diameter of a nozzle or less nozzle clogging can guarantee an enough flow rate for reaching the target casting speed. Ladle nozzle clogging can be predicted by analyzing the percentage of a slide gate being opened. Al2O3 and its composite inclusions were the main ones which cause the nozzle clogging during the CC process of the silicon steel. Ca-treatment could transform those high melting point inclusions into C12A7 by adding Si-Ca wires and prevent the ladle nozzle clogging of the silicon steel.