Practical application of thermodynamics to inclusions engineering in steel

The present work briefly outlines thermodynamic databases of oxide solutions relevant to slags and inclusions in steelmaking processes and steel products, and reviews their application particularly to inclusions engineering. This paper then presents recent work on control of inclusions chemistry and phases in liquid steel, during solidification, and in solid steel by employing a computational thermodynamic technique and practical experiments. The system of the present study consists of metallic steel (Fe-C-Si-Mn-Al-Ti-Mg-O-S), non-metallic oxides (Fe-Si-Mn-Al-Ti-Ca-Mg-O-S), and various compounds. It is demonstrated that theoretical predictions are in a striking agreement with experimental results on change in composition and phase of inclusions subjected to a number of different thermal and chemical conditions.