Evaluation of different alloying concepts to trace non-metallic inclusions by adding rare earths on a laboratory scale

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External Organisational units

  • Christian Doppler Laboratory for Inclusion Metallurgy in Advanced Steelmaking, Leoben

Abstract

Different alloying concepts to trace deoxidation products, mainly aluminium oxides, using rare earth elements (REEs), were tested on the laboratory scale by melting trials with a high-frequency remelting furnace. Lanthanum and Cerium, which belong to the group of light REEs, were used for these experiments. The formed multiphase inclusions were characterized by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. Concerning the higher atomic numbers of REEs, traced non-metallic inclusions (NMIs) seem brighter than the steel matrix compared to deoxidation products. REE-traced aluminium oxides showed a primarily heterogeneous and almost globular morphology. The mean equivalent circle diameter of REE-containing NMIs is for all trials similar and is about 2 µm. The experimental results pointed out that the recovery rates of the various alloying concepts differ only slightly. In contrast, the values mainly depend on the surface-to-volume ratio and the amount of oxygen in the melt.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)507-516
Number of pages10
JournalIronmaking and steelmaking
Volume50.2023
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 4 Oct 2022