from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The physical and chemical reactions that occur in the process of steel melting and solidification produce non- metallic compounds and phases, referred to as inclusions. The quantity of non-metallic inclusions is correlated with the content of tramp elements in the alloy, while their phase composition and structure, in particular shape, dimensions and dispersion, are determined by the course of metallurgical processes. Aim of this study was to determine the effect of the outside furnace treatment on purity high-grade medium carbon steel melted in a converter and deoxidized by vacuum as well as steel melted in an electric furnace and subjected to desulfurization as well as desulfurization and refining with argon. Data were processed using mathematical statistics. It was assumed that the structure of inclusions within dimensional intervals will be characterized by the dimension structure coefficient (stereometry parameter) which indicates the share of the relative volume of inclusions within a given size range. The results of the analysis indicated the highest dimension structure coefficients in heats from an electric furnace with desulfurization, while the distribution and the share (quantity) of inclusions in heats from an electric furnace with argon refining and a converter were found to be similar.
Keywords: metallurgy, high-grade steel, steel, non-metallic inclusions, stereometry© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.