Investigation on evolution of surface tension of low reactivity mold flux: Molecular dynamics simulation

The microstructure and surface tension of mold flux are crucial for the stable operation of continuous casting process. The surface tension of CaO-SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 based slags with different Al 2 O 3 additions was calculated by molecular dynamics simulation. The microstructure of the slag was analyzed to reveal the mechanism of surface tension transition. Furthermore, the pulling cylinder method was employed to verify the accuracy of the molecular dynamics simulation. The results showed that the surface tension increased with Al 2 O 3 . Nevertheless, when at 15 % to 20 %, due to the formation of anion AlO 2− with weak electrostatic potential, the surface tension shows a downward trend.