An important missing link in the current knowledge of dross contamination is how dross is picked up by the moving strip in the snout and zinc melt. The effect of the substrate properties shows that this is an important aspect of dross contamination and understanding these phenomena is essential if we want to further reduce dross contamination.
The pick-up of dross by the strip is equivalent to a particle deposition process on a moving rough surface. There is a lot of published research about this subject but only a limited amount about rough surfaces, see e.g. [1] for a review. Also, the existing literature deals with gas flows with relatively heavy, large and spherical particles in them. We have a liquid metal flow with lighter non spherical particles and very thin fleeces in it so we should investigate our case more thoroughly.
The project will utilise the state of the art hot dip simulator and analytical suites at Swansea University to characterise the steel surface and correlate this to the dross contamination on the finished steel surface. The project is likely to present opportunities to spend time within the R&D function and production lines of Tata Steel.