2015 Volume 55 Issue 11 Pages 2358-2364
REM-oxide clusters extracted from 253MA stainless steel grade samples from a pilot trial were investigated using a 2%TEA electrolyte. The samples were taken from liquid steel at different holding times after an addition of an appropriate amount of mischmetal. Thereafter, SEM in combination with EDS was deployed for three dimensional (3D) investigations of the characteristics of the extracted REM-oxide clusters. A reliable cluster size distribution (CSD) was obtained by improving the observation method and it was used to explicate the formation and growth mechanism of REM-oxide clusters. A correlation between morphology of clusters and their growth rate was found. This was used to divide the clusters into two different groups, which form and grow in accordance to different mechanisms. The results also show that the growth of clusters is governed by different types of collisions dependent up on size of the clusters. It has been concluded that for REM-oxide clusters turbulent collisions are the main controlling mode for the growth rate.
