Determination of macroinclusions during clean steel production

There are very few macroinclusions in clean steel, but the few that exist are very harmful for material properties of the final steel product. To date, very little information on large, so called macroinclusions in clean steel production has been presented. Therefore, the present study has focused on providing information on these inclusions during different stages of the steelmaking process, based on plant trials carried out at Uddeholm Tooling, Hagfors, Sweden. Macroinclusion size distributions have been determined using optical microscopy and classified according to a modified version of the Swedish standard SS 111116, as well as using immersed ultrasonic scanning. For the sake of completeness, the size distribution of microinclusions has also been determined using optical microscopy. Inclusion compositions were determined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Two types of liquid steel sampler were used in the investigation: a rapid solidifying (RS) sampler and the LSHR (liquid sampling hot rolling) sampler, suitable for immersed ultrasonic scanning. The results are critically discussed with respect to process conditions, such as alloy additions that took place during the plant trials.