Comparative study on interaction between rare earth oxide refractories and rare earth treated steel

Refractories have an important effect on the cleanliness of molten steel. The interaction between CeAlO3refractories and Ce treated steel was explored and compared with that between Al2O3refractories and Ce treated steel. The results show that the Ce content in steel decreases sharply after contact with Al2O3refractories and the pick-up of dissolved Al occurs. Compared with the test of Al2O3refractories, the loss of Ce content is less in the test of CeAlO3refractory, and the total oxygen content and dissolved Al content in steel increase less. The dense and continuous Ce2O2S interface layer is observed at the CeAlO3refractories/steel interface, which can serve as the metallurgical isolation layer and hinder the further interaction between refractories and steel. Therefore, the higher steel cleanliness and less penetration of refractories by molten steel are obtained in the test of CeAlO3refractories. The CeAlO3refractories show a promising prospect in the production of clean Ce treated steel.