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High-Temperature Crystallization Characteristics of CaF2-SiO2 Fluxes Geared Towards High Heat Input Submerged Arc Welding

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Abstract

Crystallization behaviors of CaF2-SiO2 fluxes with varying SiO2 contents from 10 wt.% to 40 wt.% have been thoroughly investigated using single hot thermocouple technique (SHTT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resulting continuous cooling transformation (CCT) and time–temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams showed that the onset crystallization temperature increased and the incubation time for crystallization decreased with increasing SiO2 content. The primary crystalline phase changed from CaO to Ca2SiO4 and then to Ca4Si2O7F2 with increasing SiO2 content. For two dominant initial crystalline phases, the growth of Ca2SiO4 crystals followed a one-dimensional pattern while that of Ca4Si2O7F2 a three-dimensional one. The effective activation energy for the whole crystalline process decreases with higher SiO2 content and the most negative value of effective activation energy for flux with 40 wt.% SiO2 indicated that Ca4Si2O7F2 phase that led to poor slag detachability should be avoided, while the CaSiO4 phase should be tuned and obtained accordingly due to the large planer disregistry towards enhanced slag detachability.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. U20A20277, 52104295, 52050410341, 52150610494), National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFE0123300), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (YESS) (Grant No. 2021-2023QNRC001) and Research Fund for Central Universities (Grant Nos. N2025025, N2125016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ecological Metallurgy of Multimetallic Mineral (Ministry of Education), Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Zhanjun Wang, Xiaorui Zheng, Ming Zhong & Cong Wang

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

    Zhanjun Wang, Xiaorui Zheng, Ming Zhong & Cong Wang

  3. Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, 400076, India

    Somnath Basu

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  1. Zhanjun Wang
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Correspondence to Cong Wang.

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Wang, Z., Zheng, X., Zhong, M. et al. High-Temperature Crystallization Characteristics of CaF2-SiO2 Fluxes Geared Towards High Heat Input Submerged Arc Welding. J. Sustain. Metall. 9, 826–836 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-023-00694-1

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