Effects of hot top pulsed magneto-oscillation on solidification structure of steel ingot

Abstract

Achieving a uniform structure with few defects in heavy steel ingot is of high commercial importance. In this present work, in order to verify the potential of pulsed magneto-oscillation (PMO) applied in the production of heavy ingot, an induction coil was located at the hot top of the steel ingot to develop a novel technique, named hot top pulsed magneto oscillation (HPMO). The influences of HPMO on the solidification structure, macro segregation and compactness of a cylindrical medium carbon steel ingot with the weight of 160 kg were systematically investigated by optical microscope (OM) and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy original position metal analyzer (LIBSOPA-100). The results show that HPMO not only causes significant grain refinement and promotes the occurrence of columnar to equiaxed transition (CET) but also can homogenize the carbon distribution and enhance the compactness of the steel ingot. Therefore, HPMO technique has the potential to be applied in the production of heavy steel ingots on an industrial scale.

Keywords

• hot-top pulsed magneto oscillation (HPMO)
• solidified structures
• defects of steel ingot