A study on aluminum sensor for steel melt

A new type of aluminum sensor with auxiliary electrode (Al2O3+Na3AlF6) has been developed, which can be used to measure the aluminum concentrations of molten steel in the temperature range 1823 to 1873 K. The measured EMFs reached stable values within 10 s after immersion of the aluminum probe into the melt and were nearly independent of the experimental temperature. The relation between measured EMFs and aluminum activities is in good agreement with the theoretical calculation. The aluminum concentrations in steel melt, calculated based on the experimental results, highly approaches those obtained from chemical analysis. This type of aluminum probe with rapid response and good accuracy is very promising to be put into practical use of steelmaking process control.