O papel do reator RH na desgaseificação do aço: uma revisão sistemática de literatura

Abstract

The need to develop steels with increasingly higher levels of cleanliness is an irrefutable fact of today's world. To manufacture steels capable of adequately responding to the demands placed on them, it is imperative that the presence of dissolved gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen be kept to a minimum, as these elements significantly compromise fundamental material parameters — toughness and fatigue resistance, for example. Ultra-low carbon steels, including interstitial-free steels — a subclass of ultra-low carbon steels — have essential applications in the home appliance industry (sheet metal for refrigerators and washing machines), packaging (cans and metal containers), automotive (complex parts such as doors and hoods), construction (bent profiles and roof tiles), and electronics (devices requiring extraordinary surface finishes after forming). The Ruhrstahl Heraeus degassing process, or simply the RH reactor, is a benchmark in the metallurgical field when it comes to vacuum degassing. This process was the focus of this study, which involved a comprehensive literature review focusing on the reactor's operating principles and the mechanisms associated with degassing. Through the examination of nuances in processes inherent to RH — such as dehydrogenation, denitrogenation, decarburization and deoxidation — by means of scientific studies, the importance of this degasser (in terms of efficiency) in such a crucial step of the steel manufacturing process was highlighted: the secondary refining.

Keywords: RH. Vacuum degassing. Secondary refining. Steelmaking.