  Ladle refining is one of the most important aspects of high-quality steel
production. Ladle argon purging which facilitates the refining process also
leads to the unwarranted opening of the slag cover known as Slag Eye-opening
and has a deleterious effect on the quality of steel. Slag eye-opening has been
analysed in past under isothermal conditions whereas ladle refining is a
transient and non-isothermal operation. The current study deals with the
modelling of slag-eye opening and its effects on ladle refining under
non-isothermal conditions. The bubble plume is modelled with the help of
Discrete Phase modelling (DPM) coupled with a discrete random walk model for
including the particle level turbulence. Temperature-dependent thermophysical
properties of slag are obtained from FactSage. Opening of slag-metal interface
cools the slag-eye region, which causes changes in the thermophysical
properties of the slag phase. These changes are then reflected in the flow
characteristics of this complex fluid. The slags flow profile and eye formation
are compared and explained between cold modelling techniques and actual ladle
metallurgy. The consequences of changing thermophysical prop during ladle
refining manifest in their influence on the overall mass transfer coefficient
and the kinetics of desulfurization. This can be achieved without the
requirement to solve computationally demanding species transport equations,
thereby enhancing the practical efficiency of this approach.
