Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal Analysis Study of Heterogeneous Nuclei in Stainless Steels

  • Published:
International Journal of Metalcasting Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents work done to determine effective heterogeneous nuclei for 304 and HK stainless steels. Heats of each steel were melted in an induction furnace and then poured into a thermal analysis cup which contained the experimental powder. MgO, NbO, NiAl, and TiN powders were added to 304. Powders of ZrO2, La2O3, MgO, and NbO were introduced into HK. A data acquisition system recorded the cooling curves of the solidifying alloys. Data from these curves was then used to calculate the amount of undercooling to initiate solidification. MgO, NbO, NiAl, and TiN reduced the undercooling in 304 while La2O3, MgO, and NbO reduced undercooling in HK. The secondary dendrite arm spacing of the 304 samples were not affected by the addition of the heterogeneous nuclei. It is postulated that this was caused by the high cooling rate of the thermal analysis cup during solidification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Beddoes, J., Parr, J. G., Introduction to Stainless Steels, p. 128, ASM International, Materials Park, OH (1999).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kearns, M. A., Cooper, P.S., “Effects of Solutes on Grain Refinement of Selected Wrought Aluminum Alloys,” Materials Science and Technology, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 650–654 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lee, Y. C., Dahle, A. K., St. John, D., “The Role of Solute in Grain Refinement of Magnesium,” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, vol. 31A, no. 11, pp. 2895–2906 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gruzleski, J. E., Microstructure Development During Metalcasting, p. 48, American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Easton, M., St. John, D., “Grain Refinement of Aluminum Alloys: Part II. Confirmation of, and a Mechanism for, the Solute Paradigm,” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, vol. 30, pp. 1625–1633 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bramfitt, B., “The Effect of Carbide and Nitride Additions on the Heterogeneous Nucleation Behavior of Liquid Iron,” Metallurgical Transactions, vol. 1, pp. 1987–1995 (1979).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jackson, W.J., “Control of the Grain Structure in Austenitic Steel Castings,” Iron and Steel, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 163–172 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Roberts, T.E., Kovarik, D.P., Maier, R.D., “The Solidification and Grain Refinement of Cast Austenitic Stainless Steels,” Transactions of the American Foundrymen’s Society, vol. 87, pp. 279–298 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Van der Eijk, C., and Walmsley, J., “Grain Refinement of Fully Austenitic Stainless Steels Using a Fe-Cr-Si-Ce Master Alloy,” Proceedings of the 59th Electric Furnace Conference, pp. 51–60 (2001).

  10. Ferry, M., Hunter, A., Strezov, L., Mukunthan, K., “Influence of Titanium Inoculation on the As-cast Microstructure of Ferritic Stainless Steel Strip,” Proceedings of Engineering Materials 2001, pp. 33–38 (2001).

  11. Ohno, M., Matsuura, K., “Refinement of As-cast Austenite Microstructure in S45C Steel by Titanium Addition,” ISIJ International, vol. 48, no. 10, pp. 1373–1379 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. National Institute of Materials Science, “Pauling File: Atomworks,” http://crystdb.nims.go.jp/index_en.html (28 December 2010).

  13. Valdez, M. E., Shibata, H., Cramb, A. W., “Controlled Undercooling of Liquid Iron in Contact with ZrO2 and MgO Substrates under Varying Oxygen Partial Pressure,” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B, vol. 37B, pp. 959–965 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Suito, H., Ohta, H., Morioka, S., “Refinement of Solidification Microstructure and Austenite Grain by Fine Inclusion Particles,” ISIJ International, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 840–846 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Stefanescu, D. M., Science and Engineering of Casting Solidification, p. 131, Springer, New York, NY (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Tuttle, R. B., “Grain Refinement in Plain Carbon Steels,” Proceedings of the 114th Metalcasting Congress, American Foundry Society (2010).

  17. Guo, W., Zhang, L., Zhu, M., “Modeling on Dendrite Growth of Medium Carbon Steel during Continuous Casting,” Steel Research International, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 265–277 (2010).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Thiem, S., Löser, W., “Reanalysis of Solidification Behavior from the Microstructure in Near-net-shape Casting of Steels,” Steel Research, vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 291–296 (1992).

    Google Scholar 

  19. El-Bealy, M., Thomas, B. G., “Prediction of Dendrite Arm Spacing for Low Alloy Steel Casting Processes,” Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B, vol. 27B, pp. 689–693 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, MI, USA

    R. Tuttle

Authors
  1. R. Tuttle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tuttle, R. Thermal Analysis Study of Heterogeneous Nuclei in Stainless Steels. Inter Metalcast 6, 27–34 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03355475

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03355475

Keywords

Search

Navigation