Abstract
The formation of CO(g) bubbles in Fe-C alloy droplets during spray-decarburization operations is described in terms of a homogeneous nucleation process enabled by the surface active properties of oxygen. An expression is obtained for the reversible work to form a vapor nucleus that includes electrostatic terms involved in forming a layer of chemisorbed oxygen ions. These additional terms make the critical nucleation conditions a sensitive function mainly of the oxygen content of the melt. The critical oxygen activity is found to be in the 0.001 to 0.003 wt pct range at 1823 K.
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Abbreviations
- A:
-
surface area
- ao :
-
oxγgen activitγ in melt (weight percent)
- e:
-
electronic charge
- ΔF:
-
Helmholtz free energγ change
- J:
-
nucleation frequencγ per unit volume
- k:
-
Boltzmann constant
- I:
-
dipole length
- N:
-
atom inventorγ
- n:
-
number of atoms
- n2 :
-
number of CO(g) molecules
- n3 :
-
number of chemisorbed oxγgen ions
- p:
-
pressure
- R:
-
radial position in droplet
- R(ao*):
-
radial position in droplet at which ao = ao*
- r:
-
radius of embrγo
- T:
-
absolute temperature
- V:
-
volume
- Z:
-
nonequilibrium factor
- z:
-
number of charges
- β:
-
desorption frequencγ per unit area
- γ:
-
net surface energγ densitγ σ—ΣO)
- Γo :
-
asγmptotic adsorption limit of oxγgen
- Γ3 :
-
n3/A
- θ:
-
sfraction of a monolaγer coverage (Γ3/Γo)
- μ:
-
electrochemical potential
- β:
-
chemical potential
- σ:
-
surface tension
- σo :
-
electrostatic energγ densitγ
- X:
-
contact or surface potential
- *:
-
surface tension function
- *:
-
critical conditions
- O:
-
oxγgen
- C:
-
carbon
- Fe:
-
iron
- 1:
-
melt
- 2:
-
embryo
- 10:
-
carbon component of melt
- 11:
-
oxygen component of melt
- 12:
-
iron component of melt
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Levine, H.S. Homogeneous nucleation of CO bubbles in Fe-C-O melts. Metall Trans 4, 777–782 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02643087
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02643087