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Formation Mechanism of AlN Inclusion in High-Nitrogen Stainless Bearing Steels

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Abstract

The existence of angular and hard AlN inclusions would seriously deteriorate the service life of high-nitrogen stainless bearing steels (HNSBSs). In this work, the formation mechanism of AlN inclusion in HNSBSs under as-cast, annealing and austenitizing states was systematically investigated by microstructure observation and thermodynamic, kinetic analyses. The results showed that the concentration product of Al and N could exceed the critical solubility of AlN inclusion at liquidus temperature with the Al content higher than 0.050 wt pct, which led to the formation of AlN inclusions about 1 to 5 μm (equivalent diameter) in liquid steel. Based on the ‘Clyne-Kurz’ model, AlN inclusion could form at the solidifying front due to the enrichment of N in the residual liquid steel with the Al content higher than 0.030 wt pct. Besides, the precipitation of Cr2N and the extremely low diffusion coefficient of Al in α phase restrained the precipitation of AlN during annealing at 1023 K. However, AlN and AlN-MnS composite inclusions less than 0.6 μm could precipitate during austenitizing at 1323 K with the Al content higher than 0.006 wt pct, which was the critical Al content to avoid AlN formation in HNSBSs after melting, solidification, and heat treatment processes.

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Acknowledgment

This research was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos. U1960203/51774074/52004060], China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents [Grant No. BX20200076], China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant No. 2020M670775], Talent Project of Revitalizing Liaoning [Grant No. XLYC1902046], and Shanxi Municipal Major Science and Technology Project [Grant No. 20181101014]. Special thanks are due to the instrumental analysis from Analytical and Testing Centre, Northeastern University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Peng-Chong Lu, Hua-Bing Li, Hao Feng, Zhou-Hua Jiang, Hong-Chun Zhu & Zhuang-Zhuang Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Hua-Bing Li & Zhou-Hua Jiang

  3. Analysis and Testing Centre, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Tong He

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Manuscript submitted 12 January 2021; accepted 1 April 2021.

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Lu, PC., Li, HB., Feng, H. et al. Formation Mechanism of AlN Inclusion in High-Nitrogen Stainless Bearing Steels. Metall Mater Trans B 52, 2210–2223 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-021-02171-0

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