Fine equiaxed dendritic structure of a medium carbon steel cast using pulsed magneto-oscillation melt treatment

Abstract

The application of a pulsed magneto-oscillation (PMO) technique during the solidification of a commercial high melting point medium carbon steel ingot (φ140 mm × 450 mm) produced fully equiaxed grains in the cast ingot, indicating that the PMO process significantly promotes heterogeneous nucleation near the solid-liquid interface. The vigorous convection induced by PMO forced the partly solidified grains to move from the solid-liquid interface and became randomly distributed throughout the melt, which resulted in the formation of uniformly sized equiaxed dendrites throughout the whole ingot. Building on the developed nucleation mechanism and a flow field simulation of pure aluminum, a PMO-induced grain refinement model for steel is proposed.

Keywords

Pulsed magneto-oscillation (PMO) / Grain refinement / Carbon steel / Simulation / Microstructure

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Funding

the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51320105003)

Shanghai government(14DZ2261200)

the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality(15520710800)