STEEL MAKING PROCESSES

Dr. Laraib Sarfraz Khanzada

Ingot defects and Remedies:
1) Pipe………..Cause:
• The volumetric contraction resulting on
solidification appears in the form of a cavity known
as pipe.
• This amounts of about 2.5-3.0% of the total
apparent volume of the ingot.
• Rimming and semi-killed steels show tendency for
piping which
can be eliminated by careful practice.
• Capped steel is particularly free of pipe.
• In a WEU mould the pipe is short and wide, while in a NEU mould
the pipe is narrow and long.
Remedies of pipe formation:

• By adopting hot top feeder head. It acts as a reservoir to

feed the metal to the main part of the ingot and avoid the
formation of pipe. The volume of the hot top is 10-15%
higher than ingot volume

• Use of exothermic materials in the hot top keeps the

metal hot in the top portion and pipe formation can be
avoided

• Another method = to pour little more metal after

partial solidification, but this is not a very common practice.
2) Columnar Structure:

• After the formation of initial chill layer further

solidification results in the formation of dendrites
which grow along their principal axis perpendicular the
mold wall.

• It is tree like structure…Dendrites initially grow as

primary arms and depending upon the cooling
rate, composition and agitation, secondary arms grow
outward from the primary arms. Likewise, tertiary arms
grow outward from the secondary arms.
 Figure: Dendritic structure
• Their lateral growth is restricted due to the growth of
adjoining dendrites giving rise to the elongated crystal.

• If the length of these is appreciable it is known as

columnar structure.
 • Ingot possessing columnar structure tends to crack during rolling.

3) Blow Holes:

• The entrapment of gas evolved during solidification of steel produce

cavities known as blow holes in all except killed steels.

• These are of two types.

i. Primary blow holes are elongated or like honeycomb and are

located next to the ingot skin.

ii. Secondary blow holes are more spherical and are located
further in.

Remedy: Control of gas evolution during solidification so that blow hole forms only
within the ingot skin of adequate thickness.
 4) Segregation:
• It is the difference in composition of steel within the ingot than some
average composition. Segregation is due to

a) Difference in solubility of solute elements in liquid and solid steel

i.e. partition coefficient of element in steel. Partition coefficient of solute (K)
is defined as

The value of K ≤ 1.
The solute elements whose K = 1 do not segregate. All
elements whose K < 1 tend to segregate.
b) Rate of solidification: faster rate of
solidification avoids the elements to segregate.
The initial chill layer of ingot has practically the
same composition as that of liquid steel.
Decrease in rate of solidification causes
elements to segregate.
c) Larger size ingots: are susceptible to segregation
than smaller size ones. Larger size ingots require
more time for solidification.

Remedy: soaking of ingotsat high temperature

can minimize segregation.
 5) Non-metallic inclusions:

• Inclusions are foreign particles that contaminate the

metal surface during rolling or other metal forming
processes. Common inclusion particles include
oxides, sulfides or silicates. Inclusions can be
characterized by their shape, size and distribution.

• Non metallic inclusions are inorganic oxides, sulphides

and nitrides formed by reaction between metal like Fe, Ti,
Zr, Mn, Si & Al with non metallic elements like
oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur etc...
Types of non-metallic inclusions:
• Oxides

FeO, Al2O3, SiO2, MnO, Cr2O3 etc.

Al2O3*SiO2, Al2O3*FeO, Cr2O3*FeO, MgO*Al2O3, MnO*SiO2 etc.

• Sulfides

FeS, MnS, CaS, MgS, Ce2S3 etc.

• Oxysulfides

MnS*MnO, Al2O3*CaS, FeS*FeO etc.

• Carbides

Fe3C, WC, Cr3C2, Mn3C, Fe3W3C etc.

 • Nitrides

TiN, AlN, VN, BN etc.

• Carbonitrides

Titanium carbonitrides, vanadium carbonitrides, niobium

carbonitrides etc.

• Phosphides

Fe3P, Fe2P, Mn5P2

 Depending on the source, from which non-metallic inclusion are
derived, they are subdivided into two groups: indigenous and
exogenous inclusions.

1. Indigenous inclusions are formed in liquid, solidified or solid

steel as a result of chemical reactions (deoxidation,
desulfurization) between the elements dissolved in steel.

2. Exogenous inclusions are derived from external sources such

as furnace refractories, ladle lining, mold materials etc. Amount
of exogenous inclusions and their influence on the steel properties
are insufficient.
Distribution of non-metallic inclusions:

Besides of the shape of non-metallic inclusions their distribution throughout the

steel grain structure is very important factor determining mechanical
properties of the steel.

1. Homogeneous distribution of small inclusions is the most desirable type

of distribution. In some steels microscopic carbides or nitrides
homogeneously distributed in the steel are created by purpose in order to
increase the steel strength.

2. Location of inclusions along the grain boundaries is undesirable since

this type of distribution weakens the metal.

3. Clusters of inclusions are also unfavorable since they may result in local
drop of mechanical properties such as toughness and fatigue strength.
Although the fundamental process of steel casting is
relatively straightforward, several issues require special
attention.

One of these is the control of imperfections

and porosity, which may occur during solidification due to
the evolution of gases (primarily oxygen, but also hydrogen,
carbon dioxide etc.) dissolved within the liquid steel.

The degree of gas that evolves results in four generic types

of steel ingots.
 KILLED STEEL

Killed steel is fully deoxidized prior to pouring into the casting

mould. The dissolved gases in the liquid steel react with the
deoxidizing agents that are added to the melt before pouring.
Deoxidizing agents are typically aluminium, silicon, ferrosilicon or
ferromanganese.

Deoxidizers have a higher affinity for oxygen and form metallic

oxides, which float to the top of the molten bath to form a slag layer.

In this manner, when the steel is poured into the mould and
solidifies, the concentration of dissolved gases is sufficiently low that
during solidification gas bubbles or blowholes do not form and an
ingot free of porosity is produced. A pipe develops due to the liquid-
solid shrinkage, which is usually removed and discarded prior to
further processing. Almost all steel grades containing >0.3%C are
killed.
 SEMIKILLED STEEL

• A semikilled steel is partially deoxidized and thus contains

some blowholes, usually concentrated near the top of the
ingot. This is because the static pressure exerted by the
liquid steel, due to gravity, prevents porosity formation in
the lower half of the ingot.
• Typically, the volume of the blowholes resulting from
gases trapped within the solidified ingot compensates for
the shrinkage due to solidification, and consequently pipe
formation is minimized.
• Therefore, compared to killed steels, the yield is larger,
but the quality is lower. Most steels containing between
0.15 and 0.3%C are semikilled.
 RIMMED STEEL

• In a rimmed steel, sufficient deoxidizing agents are

added prior to pouring to provide only minimal
control over the gas level.
• Sufficient gas evolves from the liquid steel after
pouring that a strong boiling action or rimming
occurs. The gases evolved form blowholes even in the
bottom half of the ingot.
• Most steels containing between 0.06 and 0.15%C are
rimmed steels. Rimmed steels have the desirable
characteristic of an outer ingot skin of relatively
clean metal. However, this depends on the skill of the
steelmaker.
 C APPED STEELS

• Capped steels are variants of rimmed steels. After pouring

the metal into the mould, the rimming action is allowed to
proceed for about 1 min, at which time a cap is placed
over the open end of the ingot mould, essentially stopping
the rimming action.
• In this manner, an outer surface relatively free of
blowholes is produced, and compositional segregation
that occurs in the ingot centre is reduced compared to a
rimmed ingot.
• The phenomenon of compositional segregation is
discussed later in this chapter. This process is particularly
advantageous for steel with >0.15%C.
Sketch of solidified grain structure of an alloy: (a) chill crystals; (b) columnar
grains; and (c) region of coarse equiaxed grains in centre
Steel ingot structures: (a) killed steel ingot; (b) semikilled steel ingot; (c)
rimmed ingot; and (d) capped ingot. (Reproduced courtesy of The AISE Steel
Foundation.)