Morphology of Inclusions and Its Refinement Mechanism in the New P91 Heat-Resistant Pipeline Steel

A new type of P91 heat-resistant pipeline steel ingot was prepared by feeding Al twisted wire into a steel melt through a multi-point regional micro-supply method, combined with electromagnetic stirring. The type, shape, and size of inclusions in the new P91 steel after forging were then analyzed by...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xiaohua Chen, Shenghui Liang, Yanlin Wang, Zidong Wang, Weijie Fan, Xinning Yu, Jian Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-09-01
Series:Metals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/10/1556
Description
Summary:A new type of P91 heat-resistant pipeline steel ingot was prepared by feeding Al twisted wire into a steel melt through a multi-point regional micro-supply method, combined with electromagnetic stirring. The type, shape, and size of inclusions in the new P91 steel after forging were then analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results showed that four types of inclusions were detected in the P91 steel, including: spherical independent Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> inclusions, irregular Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> composite inclusions, nearly spherical MgO-Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> composite inclusions, and spherical (Ca, Mg, Al) (O) composite inclusions. Compared with traditional P91 steel, the inclusions in the new P91 steel were significantly refined. Refining mechanisms of inclusion showed that Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> oxide particles distributed dispersedly with fine sizes could be obtained through a multi-point regional micro-supply method. Further, Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> particles act as the nucleation core to form a “core-shell” structure and play the role of a heterogeneous nucleation to refine SiO<sub>2</sub>, MgO, (Ca, Mg) (O), and other inclusions in the steel.
ISSN:2075-4701