Inclusions and solidification structures of high pure ferritic stainless steels dual stabilized by niobium and titanium

As the raw materials in the post process of rolling and heat treatment, ingots have great effects on the properties of the final products. Inclusions and solidification structures are the most important aspects of the quality of ingots. Niobium and titanium are usually used to react with carbon and nitrogen to improve the properties of ferritic stainless steels. In this research, combined with thermodynamic calculation, effects of niobium and titanium on the inclusions and solidification structures in three kinds of high pure ferritic stainless steels with different titanium additions were investigated by optical microscope（OM）, scanning electron microscope（SEM）, transmission electron microscope（TEM）, and energy disperse spectrometer（EDS）. Results show that Al2O3 and a few（Nb,Ti）N particles form when titanium addition is 0.01 %.Furthermore, inclusions are mainly Ti N and Al2O3–Ti Ox–Ti N duplex inclusions when titanium addition is more than0.10 %. Those two types of inclusions are in well distribution, and can afford nuclei to the solidification process.Therefore, the ratio of equiaxed zone increases with the increase of titanium addition. The ratio increases from42.1 % to 64.0 % with the titanium addition increasing from 0.01 % to 0.10 %, and it increases to 85.7 % when the titanium addition reaches 0.34 %.

Mechanisms of Solidification Structure Improvement of Ultra Pure 17 wt% Cr Ferritic Stainless Steel by Ti,Nb Addition

The grain structures and the precipitates in the solidification microstructure of the ultra pure 17 wt% Cr ferritic stainless steels with different Ti and/or Nb micro-alloying were investigated both experimentally and theoretically. It was found by the grain structure observation that the addition of Ti or Nb to the steel reduced the grain size （D） and elongation factor （E）, and improved the equiaxed grain proportion （P） and globularity factor （￡）. Among the four steels studied, the minimum grain size and maximum equiaxed grain proportion were obtained by jointly adding both Ti and Nb to the steel. The SEM observation indicated that several kinds of precipitations, such as TiN, MC （rich in Nb）, Laves phase （Fe2Nb） and so on, formed in the corresponding steels. In addition, the results calculated using the Thermo-Calc software illustrated that TiN precipitates in the liquid at proper Ti and N contents. Meanwhile, the solidification interval （△T） was enlarged by the addition of Ti or Nb, and the effectiveness of Nb was stronger than Ti. Based on the experimental and calculation results, the mechanisms of grain refinement and increment in equiaxed grain proportion were discussed.