An Experimental Study of the Formation of Surface Agglomerates in a Submerged Arc Furnace

Submerged arc furnace (SAF) is a continuously operating furnace used for ferrochrome production. As the SAF is practically full of feed materials, liquid metal and slag, agglomerates may form in different parts of the furnace. The aim of this work was to set up an experimental apparatus to study the effect of temperature and atmosphere on the formation tendency of agglomerates. The agglomerates formed in the experiments were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope to study their agglomeration mechanism. The results indicate that the main agglomeration mechanisms are sintering and cold welding. Agglomerates formed by sintering exhibited both metallic and oxidic binder phases. The compression strength of the agglomerates was found to exhibit high variance but did exhibit a clear dependence on the agglomeration mechanism.