The main and decisive factor of blowing in oxygen converters  is interaction of high-speed oxygen jet with a molten bath. The features of this interaction determine hydrodynamics and level of metal  losses with slopping and spitting. Their study is most accessible with  cold modeling. The paper presents results of laboratory studies on the  physical model of a 160 ton converter manufactured at a scale of 1:30  to study the influence of blowing modes on character of liquid spraying.  It is blown through a lance with five nozzle tips at 10 horizons in model  height on three zones of working volume of converter model: area near  lance, area near the wall and out-of-model area. That in practice corresponds to intensity of formation of skull on the lance, on converter  mouth and on elements of the fume gas collecting system. It was found  that the total amount of liquid sprays carried out of the model is extreme  and depends on level of lance position, with a noticeable decrease in  the amount of sprays at zero height above the liquid, and above certain  values. The possibility of reducing of the intensity of splashing formation and the level of liquid loss within the investigated zones was  determined by applying a low-voltage electric potential: with negative  polarity in the area near the lance and near the walls, and with positive  polarity – out of the model.  It was revealed that beginning of practical  influence of the potential and the maximum value of “useful” power  allocated in the sublance zone is determined by specific combination of  pressure before the nozzle and the level of tip of the lance: the higher  the pressure in front of the nozzle is, the higher lance position is needed  to reach maximum values of “useful” power. The experiments, conducted on physical model during blowing of saline solutions with gases  at using of electric potentials, have shown possibility of extending the  scope of developed method to processes not related to metallurgy.

Increase in the intensity of blast furnace smelting at NLMK JSC is achieved by improving quality of coke and iron ore materials, by increasing pressure under the blast furnace mouth and by oxygen enrichment. It is accompanied by an increase in the rate of wustite indirect reduction and decrease in specific heat losses with cooling water. However, the risks of burden yield problems are significantly lower with high intensity. It has been established that with the change in quality of charge materials, reason for burden yield problems can be also the variation in ore load ratio along the furnace radius. A new method for diagnosing causes of burden yield problems was developed. Using method of mathematical modeling, effect of change in ore load and size of iron-ore materials on peripheral gases temperature change and the degree of CO use were analyzed. The method is based on analysis of joint change in gas temperature and degree of CO use in peripheral area. Analysis of peripheral gases temperature variation and degree of CO use makes it possible to identify reasons of pressure drops along the furnace height. As a result of analysis of pressure drops dynamics changes along the furnace height, there have been found signs that can be used to judge the probability of burden yield problems. The possibility of reducing pressure drops due to redistribution of ore load along the furnace radius and the amount of gases is considered. It is shown that various methods of reducing the amount of gases are accompanied by different changes in coke consumption and furnace productivity. Mathematical model has been developed to select the best combination of parameters changing of the fuel-enriched blast in specific conditions.

In various industries, the uneven distribution of material and  energy resources significantly affects stability of the technological  process and reduces the quality of products. In particular, in the blastfurnace production, the uneven distribution of charge materials and  the temperature of gases significantly affect technical and economic  performance of the furnace. The analysis of bibliographic sources  has shown that for the estimation of unevenness various coefficients  were generally used, taking into account the variability of material and  ener gy resources in the production process, the coefficient of variation  introduced by K. Pierson in 1895 was the most widespread. It was determined the relation between the square of the coefficient of variation of V² and the value  X²= (n(N-1))/N*V² according to which the random  variable V² has  X²_k a distribution with k degrees of freedom, k  =  N  –  1,  where n  =  n₁ + n₂ + … + n_N , n_i is the value of the i-th measurement,  i = 1, N – is the number of measurements. The proposed method  for estimating the unevenness is based on statistics  X²_k,  and X² also  introduced by K. Pearson in 1901 and 1904, respectively. The latter  was intended to test the H₀-correspondence of the empirical and statistical distribution. The method for determining the circumferential  irregularity in the distribution of materials and gases in a blast furnace  is based on the consistency of X²_k and X² of Pearson statistics, using  the so-called quantile factor q, if in calculations of X² the valu es   of the ,physical quantities themselves are used, by analogy, not the frequency  of the measured quantities. In this method, X²-statistic after correction  was used to determine the measure of deviation  (p) from the uniform  distribution, i.e. the unevenness coefficientp = p(X²/^k), p  є  (0; 1 – α),   X²_k =  X²_max= qX² was calculated. In order to reconcile X² and  X²_k statistics with the measurements of the physical quantities (temperature,  pressure) or materials (granular, gaseous), the X²-statistic must be adjusted so that  qX²_max ≈ X²_k (α), X²_max с(X²₁,..., Х²_M )where M – is the  number of experiments for which the values   of X²-statics were determined,  X²_k (α) – the upper α-quantile of  X²_k  statistic, q – the quantile multiplier, introduced for the correction of the X²-statistic values,  X²_max–  the maximum value of X²-statistic is admissible for determining the  measure of non-uniformity.The method was tested to evaluate the relative non-uniformity of the loaded charge components and the distribution of peripheral temperature at blast furnaces of OJSC “MMK” with  volume of 2014 and 1370 m³. The influence of the sequence of a set of  charge components in the hopper of a bell-less charging device of the  furnace on the coefficient of circumferential unevenness (p) and the  technical and economic parameters of melting was revealed.

Laboratory researches on studying on physical models of influence of conditions and the modes of a blowing out with the five-nozzle blowing module on the features of liquid spraying are conducted on three zones: near the lance, near the wall and out of model.

The possibility of decrease in level of liquid spraying in the conditions of use of low-voltage electric potential is established, especially at imposition to the lance of positive polarity. It is revealed that start of influence of potential and the maximum value of the useful power allocated in a under the lance zone are defined by a concrete combination of value of pressure before a nozzle and level of lance tip provision.

The results of analysis of the influence of boron microalloying on structure and properties of 17G1S-U pipe steel are given in the paper. Studies of metal structure were performed by electron microscopy and local X-ray spectral analysis. It has been established that metal containing 0.006 % of boron is characterized by an increased volume concentration to 0.029 % of oxide (OS) and oxysulfide (OSB) inclusions, whose content in metal without boron reaches 0.006 %. Separate sulphide inclusions (CB), whose concentration does not exceed 0.004 % against 0.029 % in a metal without boron, containing 0.01 % S is practically absent in the metal with boron containing 0.003 % S. The microalloying of pipe steel by boron has ensured the preferential formation of small nonmetallic inclusions, evenly distributed in the volume of metal. The proportion of nonmetallic inclusions with size less than 2 (rm is 76.1 %, whereas in steel without boron it is only 58.5 %. In this case, large nonmetallic inclusions of more than 10 rm are practically absent in the sample with boron. Their share does not exceed 0.6 %, which is 22 times less than their amount in the sample without boron. The structure of the sample without boron consists mainly of ferrite and a small amount of perlite, and the sample with boron is represented by a dispersed ferritic-bainitic structure. Increasing the microhardness of both ferrite and pearlite 80 and 100 HV10, respectively, is observed by adding boron to steel. The mechanical properties of 10 mm hot rolled metal from boron-containing 17G1S-U pipe steel are characterized by increased strength properties with preservation of plastic characteristics, due to the formation of predominantly small nonmetallic inclusions and a finely dispersed ferritic-bainitic structure. The absolute values of the yield stress and the time resistance of pipe steel containing in mass %: 0.006 B and 0.003 S are achieved without heat treatment at 585 and 685 MPa, respectively, and meet the X80 strength class, while retaining sufficiently high plastic characteristics. The pipe steel without boron containing 0.01 % of S belongs to the X70 strength class and is characterized by tensile strength lowered to 540 and 610 MPa and a temporary resistance, respectively.

The possibility of creating a composite of steel-graphite by  sintering using the simplest technology has been studied at temperature lower than 1000  °C in the electric furnace without vacuum.  The main research aim was to estimate ability of such composite  to show high wear resistance at sliding against copper counterbody  under the influence of electric current with a contact density higher  than 100  A/cm². Powder steel has been obtained by recycling of  grinding wastes of bearing production. Composites had low mechanical properties and high specific electric resistance. The high  through porosity was shown by optical metallography. Tribotechnical loading of composites has been carried out according to the  contact scheme “pin-on-ring” with a sliding velocity of 5  m/s and  with a contact pressure of 0.09  MPa. It has been noted that dry  friction of these composites has caused transfer layer emergence  on the sliding surface of copper counterbody. As a  result there was  reduction of sliding electric contact conductivity and increase in  the general copper sliding surface roughness. Impregnation by industrial oil of composites porous framework led to significant increase in specific surface contact electric conductivity and to linear  wear intensity decrease comparing with the same characteristics of  dry contact. Catastrophic wear under these conditions began at the  contact current density of 150  –  200  A/cm². It has been shown that  the placing of lead plate and composite in the specimen holder and  implementation of their joint sliding under the influence of electric  current caused additional contact electric conductivity increase and  wear intensity decrease to values of 3  –  11  μm/km at the contact  current density about 250  A/cm². Catastrophic wear in the presence  of a lead plate and industrial oil in contact zone began at the contact  current density of 250  –  300  A/cm². Contact characteristics dependence on graphite concentration was not evidently observed. It has  been established that every friction mode did not lead to copper  sliding surface deterioration. It was concluded that the use of the  restored bearing steel has the perspective for creation of current  collection materials demonstrating high wear resistance under the  influence of electric current of high contact density.

Martensite and bainite are the most complex structures being formed in steel in heat treatment including the quantitative interpretation. On frequent occasions, the application field of these steels includes the operation at high static and dynamic compression stresses. The thorough and comprehensive analysis of the materials’ structure after different types of treatment enables to use them competently for the manufacturing of the parts and structures providing them with the necessary complex of physical and mechanical properties. The factor determining the mechanical properties of the materials are the structure of solid solution, presence of nano-dimentional particles of the second phases, dislocation substructure, types and location of various boundaries and internal stress fields. For successful control of the formation of structural phase states and mechanical properties of the material it is necessary to know the quantitative laws and the cold hardening mechanisms of steels of different structural classes at active plastic deformation. By methods of transmission electron diffraction microscopy the analysis of cold hardening of 38CrNi3MoV steel with martensite and 30Cr2Ni-2MoV steel with bainite structures at active plastic compression deformation to 26 % and 36 %, respectively, was done in the research. The contributions caused by intraphase boundaries, dislocation substructure, carbide phases, atoms of alloying elements and long-range stress fields are considered. It is established that the substructural hardening (caused by the internal long-range stress fields) and solid solution strengthening (caused by carbon atoms) give largest contribution to cold hardening of 38CrNi3MoV hardened steel. For normalization of 30Cr2Ni2MoV steel hardening also takes place at the expense of the internal stress field’s action, at the penetration of carbon atoms to the ferrite crystal lattice as well as at the structural fragmentation with the deformation degree higher than 26 %. The dislocation substructure and the particles of carbide phase make comparatively small contribution to the hardening of these steels. It is shown that the cause of bainite steel softening at large (more than 15 %) degrees of deformation is connected with the activation of deformation microtwinning process.

A number of technologies in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy  are based on bubbling processes. For prediction of melting parameters  including the reduction of metals from oxide melt by a reducing gas  in a bubbling layer in industrial aggregates, a thermodynamic modeling technique is proposed based on calculation of the equilibrium in  oxide-melt-metal-gas system. Originality of the technique is that equilibrium is determined for each unit dose of gas introduced into the  working body, with the contents of oxides of metals being reduced in  each subsequent design cycle equal to the equilibrium in the previous  one. For the analysis NiO (1.8  %) – FeO (17.4  %) – CaO (13.5  %)  –  MgO  (1.9  %) – SiO₂ (58.0  %) – Al₂O₃ (7.4  %) oxide system was  taken, closely corresponding to composition of oxidized nickel ore.  The ratio of Н₂О/Н₂ in gas mixture varies between 0 and 1.0. (1823  K),  amount and composition of formed metal (ferronickel), as well as the  indices (the ratio of slag and metal, the degree of reduction of metals)  are important in implementation of the process under commodity conditions. The increase in hydrogen consumption monotonously reduces  the content of nickel oxide in the melt, while the content of iron oxide  initially increases, and then decreases.  When H₂ is introduced in an  amount of about 50 m³ per ton of the melt, the content of nickel oxide  in it is reduced to 0.017  %, and of iron oxide to 16.7  %. Resulting ferronickel contains 61  % Ni, ratio of slag and metal – 42  units. Further  increase in H₂ consumption leads to preferential iron reduction. An increase in H₂O/H₂ ratio worsens the results of reduction of metals from  the melt: decrease in degree of reduction of nickel and iron, increase  in nickel content in the alloy, and the ratio of slag and metal. However,  even with a H₂ / H₂O ratio of 1.0, which corresponds to 50  % of H₂O  in the gas mixture, reduction process does not stop. For comparison,  the work presents data on change in content of nickel and iron oxides,  when metals are restored from similar melts with carbon monoxide.  At a nickel recovery rate of 98  %, indicators are close in case of using  both H₂ and CO. However, to achieve them, it is required 2.5  times less hydrogen, and 1.36 times less mixture in which H₂O/H₂  =  0.11  (H₂  –  90  %) than carbon monoxide.

The paper presents experimental data on synthesis of finely  dispersed powder of chromium diboride. Chromium diboride was  prepared by reduction of chromium oxide Cr₂O₃ with nanofibrous  carbon (NFC) and boron carbide in the induction furnace under argon atmosphere. NFC is a product of catalytic decomposition of light  hydro carbons. The main characteristic of a NFC is high specific surface area (~150,000 m²/kg), which is significantly higher than that  of soot (~50,000  m²/kg). The content of impurities in NFC is about  1  wt  %. Boron carbide used as a reagent is characterized by high dispersity (at the level of ~2  μm) and insignificant content of impurities – no more than 1.5  wt  %. Based on analysis of state diagram of  the Cr – B system, composition of the charge and upper temperature  limit of diboride formation reaction were determined for obtaining  chromium diboride in powder state. According to the results of thermodynamic analysis, the temperature of beginning of reaction for  chromium oxide Cr₂O₃ reduction by carbon and boron carbide was  determined at various CO pressures. Composition and characteristics  of chromium diboride were studied using X-ray phase analysis, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (AES-ISP),  scanning electron microscopy using local energy-dispersive X-ray  microanalysis (EDX), low-temperature adsorption of nitrogen, followed by determination of specific surface area by BET method,  sedi mentation analysis, synchronous thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG/DSC). The material obtained at optimal parameters is represented by a single phase – chromium diboride  CrB₂ . The content of impurities in chromium diboride does not exceed 2.5  wt  %. The powder particles were predominantly aggregated.  The average size of the particles and aggregates is equal to 7.95  μm  within a wide range of size distribution. The specific surface area of a  single-phase sample is 3600  m²/kg. Oxidation of chromium diboride  begins at a temperature of 430  °C and when the temperature reaches  1000  °C, the degree of oxidation is approximately 25  %. Optimum synthesis parameters are the ratio of reagents according to stoichiometry to obtain chromium diboride at a temperature of 1700  °C and  holding time of 20  min. It is shown that for this process nanofibrous  carbon is an effective reducing agent and that chromium oxide Cr₂O₃  is almost completely reduced to diboride CrB₂ .

Conceptual bases were developed for socially oriented information technology based on integration of diversification and technological processes for creation of additional production and infrastructure facilities by means of stage-by-stage structural synthesis of processing and restoration of broken lands. The structure of conceptual bases is offered consisting of empirical prerequisites, principles, model of increase in level of ecological safety, indicators of assessment of requirements, results of realization and criteria of reliability. The principles are directed to prevention of ecological damage, full cycle of rational environmental management, coordination of interests of public authorities, investors, owners and society, integration of technologies of waste processing, land reclamation and creation of objects of social infrastructure. The conceptual model of increase in level of ecological safety reflects interaction of the main and auxiliary production of technogenic resources utilization and restoration of the broken territories with subsequent creation of infrastructure facilities. Results of realization of socially oriented information technology have the following characteristics: concreteness, interpretiability, checkability, reliability, completeness and consistency. In compliance with the offered tools, scenarios of increase in level of ecological safety of the city of Novokuznetsk have been developed for conditions of functioning of metallurgical plants producing materials from waste of metallurgical industry, materials for construction needs, construction bricks, additives to concrete and fertilizers for agriculture. Project scenarios till 2037 are described: economic effect; area of restored lands; volume of environmental pollution as a result of production activity; population of mining and metallurgical area with standard indicators; prevented pollution volume per capita. Construction of plant is planned from 2019 to 2020, with commissioning in 2021; stage-by-stage creation of social infrastructure objects is planned since 2033. As a result of modeling it was revealed as follows: annual growth of expected indicators of scenarios due to synthesis of stage-by-stage operations of waste processing, and restoration of broken lands, decrease in volume of environment pollution caused by commissioning of waste-free and low-waste productions.

One of the important factors (may be, the main one) determining duration of initial (trial) operation of Enterprise Resource Planning (EPR) is quality of users training to collaboration in integrated (at the level of elementary transactions) control system. It is obvious that duration of initial operation and corresponding losses from the incidents arising at EPR operation can be significantly reduced not only due to high-quality design and EPR testing, but, considerably, due to increase in level of competences of users reached by their training. Mathematical definition of training program development for EPR users of large metallurgical company is given in the article. The main criterion there is general increment of users’ competences as a result of implementation of training program. Procedure of task solution is based on method of network programming which relies on structural and similar network representation of criterion and restrictions. General scheme and an example of solution of the studied task are provided in which separate estimated tasks are solved by method of dichotomizing programming. Received approximate solutions of an objective can be improved by means of finding global optimum of initial task by method of branches and borders in which values of criterion function of found approximate decision are applied as borders. In practice it is expedient to consider a task, opposite to described in the article in which costs of training are the criterion. Owing to structural similarity of functions of an increment of competences and costs of training the return task can be decided according to the same scheme that it is offered for a direct task. The considered task can be generalized by taking into account the preferences of users regarding the significance of individual programs relative to others by introducing appropriate “scales”. General scheme of task solution won’t change.

Coke production is a high-tech process, which at the same time has all kinds of negative environmental impacts (emissions of pollutants into the air, wastewater discharge, placement of production and consumption waste). To improve environmental safety, it is necessary to study local ecological-economic system and its main elements in order to improve management efficiency. The article analyzes known approaches to definition and features of functioning of ecological-economic systems of industrial enterprises and their modifications. As a result of the analysis, system of correlated environmental and economic indicators is presented, reflecting specifics of ecological and economic system of coking enterprise with a monodirectional production program. The most important are the considered dependencies “current expenses for environment protection/risk level”, “current expenses for environment protection/payment for negative impact on environment”, “current expenses for environment protection/ economic damage compensation factor” and “capacity utilization/risk level”. Enterprise has identified implementation of non-stationary environmental policy, differentiated by time intervals: from 2004 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2016. Based on synthesis of theoretical studies of domestic and international researchers and analysis of graphical dependencies of actual data, directions for management efficiency improvement of local ecological-economic system of a coking plant were formed. From this point of view, it is of great importance to increase effectiveness of current expenditures provision for environment protection through development of mechanism for redistributing total amount between individual unified items of expenditures, as well as developing an algorithm for managing waste generated in the enterprise in terms of their further use to produce marketable products and minimizing potential charges for waste disposal. The work is of practical importance for large industrial enterprises with diversified negative environmental impact in order to prepare for adoption of effective environmental safety management decisions.

Dependence of tensile strength of CFR with fiber reinforcement circuit 45°/0/-45° on maximum heating temperature is considered. This dependence is constructed according to the results of field experiment. The relation between excess of glass transition temperature and ultimate strength of the sample was established. It was concluded that it is possibile to make equilibrium equations for numerical modeling of structures made of polymer composite materials under joint force and multiple temperature effects, at temperatures slightly higher than glass transition temperature.

Thermodynamic analysis of oxygen solutions in titanium-containing Ni - Co - Cr melts has been carried out. The dependences of the oxygen solubility on the content of titanium in Ni - Co - Cr melts were calculated at 1873 K. Titanium at very low levels practically does not effect on the oxygen concentration in the melt, and further increase of the titanium content leads to a very significant decrease of the oxygen concentration in the melt. Titanium contents under which the mechanism of the deoxidation reaction changes were determined in investigated melts.