What if... you never made slag during steelmaking? To answer that, we have to understand what slag is and what it can do for you. By understanding how to change the slag’s chemical makeup and physical characteristics (as well as the influence of the amount of slag) we unlock a variety of options that we can utilize to make steelmaking consistent, high quality, and above all, profitable.

The use of MgO in the ladle slag is mainly to protect the refractory brick at the slag line. In the last unit we started the discussion into ladle life improvement. We continue the discussion by talking about MgO saturation in slags, and how to get that right to improve ladle life.

If you see two slags in your ladle – one thick or solid and one thin or runny – then we need to talk about slag fluxing and ladle life. Even if you hardly ever see two slags, we still need to talk because it only takes one rogue heat on a ladle refractory campaign to be The Destroyer of your slag line brick. This issue discusses how process variables such as slag carryover, melt oxygen level, and the dreaded FeO effect slag chemistry, slag fluxing, and ladle life.

The color of the slag can give you an idea of how aggressive it is to the ladle refractory. For this trick you just need a trained eye and a steel pole to stick into the slag. We can’t help you with the pole, but as for the eye-training, we did our homework so you don’t have to…

“To be or not to be”, is a good question, so we’re going to tell you how to “be” better when it comes to ladle life. The last thing you want to see is a ladle where the refractory has decided, “not to be”. With this issue we wrap up our ladle life series with a discussion on why - or why not - to add fluxing agents to the slag in the ladle.