Essential requirements for the production

of quality steel

Nirmal Patel, Vrajesh Suvarna and Prof. Ashok Kr. Vaish

Department of Metallurgical and Materials

Engineering,
The M.S.University of Baroda,Vadodara – 390001
Content:
•Introduction
•Modern Steelmaking Processes
•Secondary Steelmaking
•Why the need of clean steel?
•Sources of gases in metals
•Inclusion Modification
•Micro-Alloy addition in steel
•Application of micro-alloyed steel
•Conclusion
INTRODUCTION:
 Small amounts of crude steel were first manufactured in
eastern Africa and India as early as 300 B.C.
 The industrial revolution had a major impact on steel
demand for machinery, railroads and other industrial
projects
 The real revolution in steel making began at the end of the
1850s when Bessemer process became the first
successful method of steel making in quantity, followed by
the Open Hearth Furnace
 Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen
steelmaking (BOS), largely replaced earlier methods by
lowering the cost of production and increasing the quality
of metal.
Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the
world, with more than 1.3 billion tons produced annually
It is a major component in
• Buildings
• Infrastructure
• Tools
• Ships
• Automobiles
• Machines
• Appliances
• Weapons
Modern Steelmaking Processes:
•Basic Oxygen Furnace
•Electric Furnace
•Basic Oxygen Furnace, also known as LD (Linz-
Donawitz) converter, is a container where hot metal
is converted into refined liquid iron i.e. Steel.
•Electric furnace is a furnace where solid charged
material (i.e Scrap & / or DRI / HBI) is heated and
smelted by means of electrical energy.
 Modern Steelmaking

Primary route Secondary route

BF EAF

LRF
BOF

Stirring Injection Vacuum Reheating

process process process process

Bottom Lance Powder Wire VOD

injection injection injection feeding
VAD
Stream R-H D-H
degassing Degassing Degassing LF
Vacuum processes:
Functions of Vacuum processes:
•To remove hydrogen and nitrogen for improved
mechanical properties.
•Removal of oxygen for cleanliness
•To produce steel of very low carbon
•To bring desulphurisation by reagents
•Greater recovery for costly alloying elements
Benefits of VOD:
• Deep carbon removal
(decarburization)
• Low losses of chromium
in treatment of stainless
steels
• Hydrogen removal
• Precise alloying
• Non-metallic inclusion
removal (oxides &
nitrides)
• Temperature and
Chemical Homogenizing
Ladle Furnace:
Argon is blown thMolten steel
is heated in ladle using electric
arc
rough the bottom porous plug
providing continuous metal
stirring
Benefits of Ladle furnace:
• Deep Sulphur removal
(desulphurisation)
• Controllable reheating by
electrical power
• Alloying
• Temperature & chemical
homogenising
• Non-metallic inclusion
removal
Similar to LF process but with a
vacuum degassing vessel

The most important non-

metallic inclusions i.e. oxides
are reduced by this process
Why the need of clean steel?
1) To improve formability and weldability
2) To produced steel with improved fatigue strength
3) To minimize surface defects in steel castings
4) To keep the impact transition temperature low
5) To avoid detrimental effects on various other
mechanical properties, like
• Tensile strength
• Toughness
• Corrosion resistance
• Machinability
Principal sources of gases in metals:
1) Charge materials
2) Furnace atmosphere
3) Ferro-alloys and various additives introduced
into the metal and slag during melting or teeming
4) Atmosphere surrounding the molten metal at
tapping & teeming
Gases in steel in the form:
• Gas blowholes
• Inclusions of oxides, nitrides or hydrides
• Dissolved in solid solution
Sources of Gases:
• Steel scrap contains 4-8 ppm Hydrogen and 30-50 ppm
Nitrogen.
• Oxygen content in scrap depends on the scrap composition and
the oxidation of its surface.
• Rusty scrap brings in much of Hydrogen as well as Oxygen.
• Scrap with a rust layer of 0.1 mm may attain 1220 ppm
Hydrogen.
• Pig iron usually contains 10-25 ppm Hydrogen and around 50
ppm Nitrogen.
During steelmaking gases like oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen
dissolve in steel. The term degassing is employed to remove
nitrogen and hydrogen from steel. Dissolved oxygen from steel melt
cannot be removed as molecular oxygen. Removal of oxygen is
termed deoxidation.

Both nitrogen and hydrogen impair the mechanical properties of

steel.
During solidification excess nitrogen is rejected which may form
either blow holes or nitrides.
Excess nitrogen causes embrittlement of heat affected zone of
welded steels and impair cold formability.
Hydrogen in Steel:
•Hydrogen in steel impairs steel properties.
• Solubility of hydrogen in steel is low at ambient
temperature.
• Excess hydrogen is rejected during solidification and
results in pinhole formation and porosity in steel.
•Few ppm of hydrogen causes blistering and loss of
tensile ductility.
Sources of Hydrogen:

•Damp (wet and rusty) scrap

•Wet solid charge (other than scrap)
•Fluxes and alloying additives
•Atmospheric humidity (if air is used for refining)
•Furnace and ladle refractories;
•Fuel (if used).
Remedies:
• Drying of charge material before charging
• Preheating of refractory lining

Effect of Impurities on the Solubility of Hydrogen:

• Titanium, Niobium, Zirconium, Thorium, Cerium, Lanthanum,
Vanadium (up to 6%) raise the hydrogen solubility

• Silicon, Aluminum, Tungsten, Chromium (10% and higher)

decrease the solubility of hydrogen in solid steel
Nitrogen in Steel:
Sources of Nitrogen:
• Furnaces operating in open atmosphere
• Voluminous raw materials charged in the furnace
• Air that comes in contact during tapping / teeming

Effect of Impurities on Nitrogen Solubility:

• Elements forming stable nitrides (V, Nb, La, Ce, Ti, Al): These
elements raise the nitrogen solubility in iron.
• Cr, Mn and Mo increase noticeably the nitrogen solubility, since
their affinity for nitrogen is greater than that of iron.
• Elements forming no nitrides (C, Ni, Cu, P) or forming less
stable compounds with nitrogen than with iron.
Lower down Concentration of Hydrogen and
Nitrogen in Steel:
•Use of clean charge materials
•Performing the heat in an atmosphere with the least content
of hydrogen and nitrogen
•Making the bath boil
•Inert-gas injection to the metal
•Vacuum treatment of the metal
Inclusion Modification:
• Inclusion Modification Technique is based on design of
inclusions so as to minimize their harmful effects on the
product properties.
• Uniform dispersion of inclusion in the matrix
Requirement of Inclusion Modification:
• It should have high chemical affinity for the inclusion
• It should be able to modify the composition so that it
becomes liquid
• It should be able to modify the shape i.e. sharp edges
and corner of the inclusion to spherical
Ca- treatment for inclusion modification:
•Mainly Al2O3 and MnS inclusions are modified
•Al2O3 inclusions are solid at casting temperature and brittle in
nature. Therefore clog the nozzle at continuos casting and
breaks on deformation
•MnS inclusions in steel on deformation becomes stringer type.
•Ca is used widely to modify the inclusion
Ca-treatment for Inclusion
Modification:
Much cleaner steel can be obtained through calcium
injection.
It is either pure Ca metal or as Ca-Fe-Al alloy with 32% Ca
and 40% Al in powder form
Calcium must be injected as deep as possible in the steel
melt to improve its efficiency
When calcium is introduced, it reacts with sulphides and
silicates inclusions to form complex sulphide oxides, which is
molten at steelmaking temperatures
• The inclusions are modified step by step and by
assimilation of CaO in Al2O3 particles
• It converts some of the solid alumina into liquid alumina
particles and the others will be semi-solid or even solid
state
• Calcium also combines with other oxide inclusions to
form liquid phase inclusions
• These liquid phase inclusions then surround the solid
alumina and form inclusions with solid core and liquid
periphery.
In this process, all or part of the suspended Alumina are
encircled by this liquid
• The size of the original Alumina inclusion increases
slightly when it gets enveloped by the liquid phase.
• It helps to move the particles upward
• Calcium injection thus changes the morphology of
sulphide and alumina inclusions and help them rise
through the melt depth to join the slag at the surface
and produce cleaner steels.
MICRO ALLOY ADDITION IN STEEL

Micro-alloyed steels, have small additions (< 0.1%) of alloying

elements to low carbon steels (0.03%-0.15%C and up to 1.5%Mn)
to achieve high yield and tensile strengths. Micro-alloyed steel is
generally called HSLA.
ROLE OF NIOBIUM (0.02 to 0.04%)

Niobium is a very important alloying element because it can not

only restrain the growth of austenite grain, but also inhibit
austenite recrystallization, so controlled rolling and controlled
cooling technology is very effective in increasing the strength and
toughness of the steels containing niobium

Strenghening by Nb is about 35 to 40 Mpa per 0.01% addition.

From figure, it can be observed that niobium is the most
effective microalloying element in retarding recrystallization of hot
worked austenite and only second to Titanium in controlling grain
growth. The combined effect is such that niobium serves as the
most important microalloying element in HSLA steel.
ROLE OF VANADIUM (Upto 0.1%)

Vanadium has greater solubility in austenite than Niobium.

The tendency for hot cracking of cast slabs is much less
pronounced and dissolution of coarse V(C,N) compounds is more
easily achieved prior to hot rolling than for the corresponding NbC.
 strengthening by Vanadium is 5 to 15 Mpa per 0.01% V.
APPLICATION OF MICRO-ALLOYED STEEL

In Russia, impressive constructions have been made from the newly

developed construction steels and in total more than 450,000 tonnes
of this high strength, low alloy steel have been used for bridges.
New bridges have been built over many rivers including; the Ob in
the city of Sirgut (Figure), the Don in Rostov-on-Don, the Oka in
Kashira and the Moscow Canal in Dmitrov.

BRIDGE OVER OB RIVER TRUCK CHASIS

 STRUCTURAL STEEL PIPE LINE

Apart from this, HSLA steel also finds varied applications in the
automotive industry ranging from several automotive profiles to
Long member components like truck chasis, etc.
CONCLUSION

For improving the quality of steel,

We should go for the secondary route of the steel making in

which de-sulphurization, de-phosphorization, vaccum degassing,
ladle refining, addition of ferro-alloy for deoxidation…etc
processes are carried out.

Control the amount of inclusion or modified the morphology of

inclusion.

Addition of micro-alloying elements like Titanium, Niobium,

Vanadium etc.
THANK YOU