Non-metallic oxide inclusion formation in C-Mn low alloy steel welds

摘要

Inclusion characteristics influence weld metal microstructure development, especially the formation of high toughness acicular ferrite phase. Important inclusion characteristics are: size distribution, number density, volume fraction, composition. Previous work considered a sequential formation of various oxides and compounds to estimate the inclusion characteristics; however, effects of weld metal composition, nucleation and growth conditions on inclusion formation were ignored. In this work, the principles of ladle deoxidization and transformation kinetics involving nucleation and growth are used to estimate the inclusion characteristics as a function of weld metal composition and cooling conditions.