World Journal of Engineering and Technology, 2020, 8, 605-616 https://www.scirp.org/journal/wjet ISSN Online: 2331-4249 ISSN Print: 2331-4222 DOI: 10.4236/wjet.2020.84042 Oct. 14, 2020 605 World Journal of Engineering and Technology Bubbling to Jetting Transition during Argon Injection in Molten Steel Miguel A. Barron, Joan Reyes, Dulce Y. Medina Departamento de Materiales, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico Abstract Bubbling to Jetting Transition is of the outmost importance in metallurgical processes given that the flow regime influences the refining rates, the refrac- tory erosion, and the blockage of injection nozzles. Bubbling to jetting transi- tion during subsonic bottom injection of argon in molten steel is studied here. The effect of the molten steel height, the injection velocity, the nozzle diameter, and the molten steel viscosity on the jet height and the bubbling to jetting transition is numerically analyzed using Computational Fluid Dynam- ics. Five subsonic argon injection velocities are considered: 5, 25, 50, 100 and 150 m/s. Three values of the metal height are taken into account, namely 1.5 m, 2 m and 2.5 m. Besides, three values of the nozzle diameters are consi- dered: 0.001 m, 0.005 m and 0.01 m. Finally, three values of the molten steel viscosity are supposed: 0.0067, 0.1 and 1 kg/(m∙s). It is observed that for the argon-molten steel system, the bubbling to jetting transition occurs for an in- jection velocity less than 25 m/s and that for the range of viscosities consi- dered, the molten steel viscosity does not exert significant influence on the jet height and the bubbling to jetting transition. Due to the jet instability at sub- sonic velocities, a second transition, namely jetting to bubbling, is appreciated. Keywords Argon Injection, Bubbling to Jetting Transition, CFD, Injection Velocity, Jet Height, Molten Steel, Nozzle Diameter 1. Introduction In the last decades, injection of gases into molten metals has been extensively used at industry for different goals. Inert gases such as argon and nitrogen are employed for bath stirring in order to achieve thermal and chemical homogeni- zation, for removing undesirable non-metallic inclusions, and degasification. How to cite this paper: Barron, M.A., Reyes, J. and Medina, D.Y. (2020) Bubbling to Jetting Transition during Argon Injection in Molten Steel. World Journal of Engineer- ing and Technology, 8, 605-616. https://doi.org/10.4236/wjet.2020.84042 Received: August 27, 2020 Accepted: October 11, 2020 Published: October 14, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access