Hydro-Dynamic Analysis of Metallurgical Filters to Control Inclusion Entrapment Using CFD and Physical Modeling (Analyzed Cases Honey Comb and Squared Micro-Pipes)

Cleaning of melting is very important for metallurgical industries which produce steel and cast-iron products in order to reduce the amount of undesirable inclusions and obtain high-quality metallic products with more homogeneous properties. During casting operations, filters are used for cleaning steel, but there are different kinds of these filters, which are classified as a function of their micro-pipe format and the casting equipment used. Some of them are homogeneous and symmetric but others are heterogeneous or absolutely amorphous. In this work, the inclusions entrapped along different positions of the filter are characterized and analyzed; moreover, an analysis to understand the hydrodynamic behavior is done using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods and compared with water physical modeling in order to evaluate the inclusion entrapment performance of two different foam filters, one extruded and one pressed. Other comparisons are done considering systems without a filter or with a heterogeneous filter. Every filter has a different geometrical configuration and its performance is evaluated according to its hydrodynamic behavior and the quantity and size of the inclusions entrapped. Velocity profiles and inclusion trajectories are calculated and compared with those in the physical model.