The size of bubbles generated by argon injection through the down‐leg snorkel (AITDS) during RH refining plays a critical role in the efficiency of inclusion removal. In this study, a combination of physical and numerical simulation approaches is systematically employed to investigate the effects of key parameters, including argon injection position, number of argon injection nozzles, and refractory wettability, on the size of the generated bubbles. The results indicate that argon injection near the down‐leg snorkel inlet produces the highest number of bubbles with the smallest Sauter mean diameter. Increasing the number of injection nozzles significantly enhances the population of bubbles smaller than 3 mm while reducing the Sauter mean diameter. As the surface condition transitions from hydrophilic (40°) to hydrophobic (105°), the dominant bubble fragmentation mechanism shifts from shear‐induced breakage to a combined mode of erosion‐induced and turbulence‐driven fragmentation. This work clarifies the mechanisms governing bubble size in RH argon injection and establishes a theoretical basis for the development of efficient inclusion removal technologies using micro‐bubbles.
Li et al. (Fri,) studied this question.