Status of development of surface treatment technology for copper and its alloys for metallurgical equipment

Copper and its alloys have many applications in the metallurgical industry because of their good thermal conductance. Continuous casting crystallizer, blast furnace air outlet small set and converter oxygen lance head are the key core components to ensure normal steel production. Continuous casting mold, blast furnace tuyere cooler and nozzle of converter oxygen lance are the key core components to ensure normal steel production. With the increasingly severe service conditions and the goal of long component life, there is an urgent need to improve the surface properties of copper alloy components to curb premature component failure due to surface abrasion, corrosion or oxidation. Therefore, the scientific and effective surface treatment of copper alloy parts, which combines the high thermal conductivity of copper alloy and the high strength, heat resistance or corrosion resistance of the protective layer, is of great significance to the development of the steel industry. At present, there have been a large number of attempts to apply surface technology to metallurgical equipment and more reports on surface treatment technology for copper and copper alloys, but there are fewer reports that systematically sort out the failure forms of key metallurgical components of copper alloys and the current state of research on surface treatment technology for copper alloys. Therefore, this paper presents an overview of the surface failure forms faced by three key metallurgical components: the continuous casting crystallizer, the blast furnace air outlet bushing and the converter oxygen lance head and the research and development status of several surface treatment technologies in the field of copper alloy surface modification, such as electroplating, thermal spraying and cold spraying, surface cladding, laser treatment and alloy co-infiltration, respectively, analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of several surface treatment technologies, and gave an outlook on the application potential of high-entropy alloy materials in the field of copper alloy surface strengthening. The development of new coating materials, optimization of the coating process and composite surface treatment technologies, such as combining laser surface treatment with surface coating technology, are possible directions to achieve the application of surface treatment technology in the field of long life of copper alloy parts for metallurgical equipment.