Effect of the wear of supersonic oxygen lance on the stirring characteristics and metallurgical effects in the converter steelmaking process

Studying the variation in jet characteristics of an oxygen lance nozzle is of great significance for the converter smelting process. A full-size geometric model of a 120-t converter was established and the effects of a worn oxygen lance nozzle exit on the gas jet, stirring characteristics, and molten bath velocity distribution were studied. An increasing wear angle increases the nozzle exit velocity, increases the jet velocity attenuation, decreases the area of the longitudinal high-velocity zone of the molten bath, increases the area of the low-velocity and dead zones, worsens the molten steel flow, and decelerates the reaction rate. Then, industrial tests were conducted using a 120-t converter. When the wear angle increased from 0 to 20°, the phosphorus content, carbon-oxygen equilibrium, and TFe content in the slag increased from 0.029%, 0.0023, and 12.92% to 0.032%, 0.0028, and 14.58%, respectively. This study has important implications for optimizing the oxygen supply in converters.