Performance Evolution of Mold Slag in the Continuous Casting Process of High‐Titanium Wear‐Resistant Steel

This study investigates slag evolution during the continuous casting of high‐Ti steel (0.3–0.6 wt% Ti) through field trials, thermodynamic calculations, inclusion detection, and laboratory simulations. In two industrial cases, Ti and SiO 2 redox reaction is dominated by increasing (TiO 2 ) content by 7.49 and 6.24 wt%, while reducing (SiO 2 ) content by 9.16 and 8.81 wt%, respectively. Slag basicity (CaO/SiO 2 ) increases from 0.42 to 0.52 and 0.55, with melting temperature decreasing from 954 to 898 °C and 932 °C, respectively, ultimately impairing casting stability and inducing slab surface detects. Mechanistic analysis reveals that strong TiO 2 ‐steel wettability hinders TiO 2 transfer into slag pool, resulting in a lower (TiO 2 ) content than the theoretical value. As the TiO 2 /SiO 2 ratio increases, the slag structure transitions from a silicate‐dominated network to a titanosilicate structure, characterized by the formation of OTiO structure or [TiO 6 ] octahedral units. TiO 2 acted as a network modifier, depolymerizing complex SiO bonds (3 and 2 coordinated) into simpler (1 and 0 coordinated). This structural depolymerization increases the fluidity and decreases the viscosity of the slag.