Purmetall GmbH & Co. KG (Oberhausen, Germany):

Bombeck M. A., Mag. Eng., CEO
Janssen M., Mag. Eng., Product Manager, Sliding Gate Refractories, E-mail: janssen@purmetall.de

Forschungsgemeinschaft Feuerfest e.V. (Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany):
Dannert Ch., Dr. Nat., Head of MBA Research Center
Deinet Th., Dr. Eng., Scientific Fellow

Gerdau Research and Development Europe S.A. (Basauri, Spain):
Ona I. A., Industrial Engineer, R & D Process Senior Researcher

Trouble-free opening of steel casting ladles at the moment when casting begins contributes significantly towards the quality of the steel being cast and the safety of the process in the steelworks. Well filler is applied in the inner nozzle and the well block of ladle sliding gate systems before ladles are being filled with liquid steel. Well filler plays an essential role in terms of the successful opening of steel casting ladles. The purpose of the well filler is well known, whereas the interaction between the well filler and the heat at various stages in the production process has not been clearly understood until now. New insights were gained as to how ladle well fillers work by determining the actual conditions within a steel casting ladle’s casting channel and combining this knowledge with systematic laboratory research data, which has lead to the development of a temperature model for the well filler. Positions of the thermocouples T1 to T14 and of the oxygen partial pressure sensor pO₂ on the carrier system are displayed. Temperature distribution in the well filler, microstructure of well filler type A after sintering at 1300 ºC, 1500 ºC and 1600 ºC during 2 hours in low-oxygen atmosphere are observed. Maximum thickness of a rigid layer in the well filler to ensure opening of the ladle, depending on the bending strength of the layer, as well as high-temperature sintering behaviour of well filler type A in low-oxygen atmosphere under constant load are analyzed.

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