Theory, possibilities, and results of electrochemical measurements in deeply deoxidized melts during making of special alloys in a vacuum induction furnace

Electrochemical measurements in liquid metals and oxygen activity calculations from the results of these measurements are carried out in melting alloyed steels for control of the technological processes of oxidative refining and the deoxidation of a liquid metal. There are no literature data on electrochemical measurements in a liquid metal for melting complex alloys deeply deoxidized by aluminum, titanium, magnesium, calcium, lanthanum, and cerium in vacuum induction furnaces. The problems of the theoretical substantiation of the possibilities of modern Cr–Cr 2 O 3 |ZrO 2 (MgO) oxygen sensors to monitor the oxygen activity in deeply deoxidized multicomponent metallic solutions and the conduction of emf measurements by these sensors in a metal in vacuo become challenging. These problems are discussed in the present article.