Nitride-inclusion characterization in lightweight steel and re-precipitation behavior of AlN during heat treatment:effect of Al content

The composition,morphology,size,and number of inclusions in Fe-22Mn-xAl-0.7C(x=0.5%,5.2%,and 10.5%)lightweight steels after smelting and heat treatment experiments are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy from both 2D and 3D perspectives.The inclusions are classified into eight categories according to chemistry and morphology.For the steel sample with a low Al content(0.5%),the inclusions are MnS,AlN-MnS,and Al_(2)O_(3)-MnS,among which Al_(2)O_(3)-MnS is the primary type.With the increase in Al content in the steel sample(to 5.2%),the populations of AlN and AlN-MnS inclusions of 1-3μm in diameter increase.A further increase in Al content(to 10.5%)leads to a significant decrease in the amount of AlN inclusions of 1-3μm in diameter,and an increase in the amount of AlN-MnS inclusions.The precipitation behavior during the phase transformation is also studied by FactSage 8.0 thermodynamic software,and a precipitation mechanism is proposed based on the calculation results.During the heat treatment,AlN inclusions re-precipitate out,due to the interactions between Al and dissolved N in the steel matrix.However,AlN inclusions cannot grow large because of unfavorable kinetic conditions.The re-precipitation phenomenon of AlN is predominant under low Al and high N conditions but not at high Al cases.

Precipitation behavior of titanium nitride on a primary inclusion particle during solidification of bearing steel

Titanium nitride precipitation on a primary inclusion particle during solidification of bearing steel has been tracked by varying temperature in a confocal scanning violet laser microscope.Upon precipitation,an obvious growth of titanium nitride on a primary inclusion particle was observed due to the rapid solute diffusion in liquid steel.The onset of titanium nitride precipitation did not change with primary inclusion particle size,but the time of growth was greater for a smaller primary inclusion particle.Meanwhile,the particle size displayed little influence on the total precipitated amount of titanium nitride on it under the same conditions.At the later period of solidification,almost no change occurred in inclusion size,but the inclusion shape varied from circle to almost square in two-dimension,or cubic in three-dimension,to attain the equilibrium with steel.

Use of improved cold-finger technique to assess effects of basicity on heat transfer through solidified mold flux

Cold-finger measurements were used to estimate the contact resistance and average thermal conductivity of mold flux films solidified on a water-cooled copper probe.Five industrial mold fluxes,with basicities from low to high,were tested.The steady-state rate of convective heat transfer between the solid film and liquid flux was compared with calculations based on natural convection correlations;the comparison indicates that the surface of the solid film(in contact with molten flux)is approximately at its solidus temperature.The roughness of the mold flux film in contact with copper was larger for films grown from higher-temperature mold flux and for higher-basicity mold fluxes.The glassy(low-basicity)film had an estimated thermal conductivity of 1.1 W/(m K).The crystalline or partially crystalline films had higher estimated thermal conductivities of 2.2-3.2 W/(m K).The measured values of thermal resistance were extrapolated to typical mold flux film thicknesses for industrial conditions;the extrapolations confirmed that the high contact resistance of higher-basicity mold fluxes can yield higher thermal resistances than the low-basicity flux.The morphology of the rough interface of higherbasicity mold flux films that gives the higher contact resistance is consistent with that observed in previous work and appears not to be directly related to crystallization.