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Effect of calcium content on inclusions during the ladle furnace refining process of AISI 321 stainless steel

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Abstract

The effect of three heat processes with different calcium contents on the evolution of inclusions during the ladle furnace refining process of AISI 321 stainless steel was investigated. The size, morphology, and composition of the inclusions were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. After the addition of aluminum and titanium, the primary oxide in the AISI 321 stainless steel was an Al2O3-MgO-TiOx complex oxide, in which the mass ratio of Al2O3/MgO was highly consistent with spinel (MgO·Al2O3). After calcium treatment, the calcium content in the oxide increased significantly. Thermodynamic calculations show that when the Ti content was 0.2wt%, the Al and Ca contents were less than 0.10wt% and 0.0005wt%, respectively, which was beneficial for the formation of liquid inclusions in molten steel. Moreover, the modification mechanism of calcium on TiN-wrapped oxides in combination with temperature changes was discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China. The authors would like to express their appreciation to Ruipu Technology Group Company for providing experimental samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chao Pan, Xiao-jun Hu & Kuo-chih Chou

  2. School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Jian-chao Zheng

  3. Ruipu Technology Group Co., Ltd., Qingtian, 323903, China

    Ping Lin

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  1. Chao Pan
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Correspondence to Xiao-jun Hu.

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Pan, C., Hu, Xj., Zheng, Jc. et al. Effect of calcium content on inclusions during the ladle furnace refining process of AISI 321 stainless steel. Int J Miner Metall Mater 27, 1499–1507 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-1981-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-1981-8

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