Rheological behavior and constitutive equations of heterogeneous titanium-bearing molten slag

Experimental studies on the rheological properties of a CaO–SiO2–Al2O3–MgO–TiO2–(TiC) blast furnace (BF) slag system were conducted using a high-temperature rheometer to reveal the non-Newtonian behavior of heterogeneous titanium-bearing molten slag. By measuring the relationships among the viscosity, the shear stress and the shear rate of molten slags with different TiC contents at different temperatures, the rheological constitutive equations were established along with the rheological parameters; in addition, the non-Newtonian fluid types of the molten slags were determined. The results indicated that, with increasing TiC content, the viscosity of the molten slag tended to increase. If the TiC content was less than 2wt%, the molten slag exhibited the Newtonian fluid behavior when the temperature was higher than the critical viscosity temperature of the molten slag. In contrast, the molten slag exhibited the non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluid characteristic and the shear thinning behavior when the temperature was less than the critical viscosity temperature. However, if the TiC content exceeded 4wt%, the molten slag produced the yield stress and exhibited the Bingham and plastic pseudoplastic fluid behaviors when the temperature was higher and lower than the critical viscosity temperature, respectively. When the TiC content increased further, the yield stress of the molten slag increased and the shear thinning phenomenon became more obvious.