Viscosity and Viscosity Estimate Model of Fluoride-Free and Titanium-Bearing Mold Fluxes Original Research Article

The relationship between the binary basicity (CaO/SiO2), TiO2, Na2O, Li2O, MgO, MnO, B2O3 and viscosity for fluoride-free and titanium-bearing mold fluxes were systematically researched. The rotating cylinder method was employed in the experiment to measure the viscosity of the slag. The results indicate that Li2O, B2O3 and Na2O play major roles in decreasing viscosity, especially Li2O, which is the most effective flux, while MgO and MnO exert little influence on viscosity. Meanwhile, it can be concluded that with increasing TiO2 content, the viscosity of fluoride-free and titanium-bearing mold fluxes increases at first but then falls when the amount of TiO2 is greater than 6.0%. Based on large amounts of experimental statistics of the viscosity of fluoride-free and titanium-bearing mold fluxes, an available model in literature for predicting the mold-slag viscosity was modified. This modified model can be used to predict the viscosity of fluoride-free and titanium-bearing mold fluxes. In fact, the predicted values approximate the observed values with a ±10.6% average deviation. Compared with the classical models, the average deviation is higher and it was found that the modified model can be used to estimate the viscosity of fluoride-free and titanium-bearing mold fluxes.