Effect of Steel Compositions on Wettability between Steel Melt and Oxide Plates

Abstract

Effect of alloying elements of steel on the wettability between the steel melt and oxides was evaluated. Steels containing Ti, Nb, Mn and Al were melted on single-crystal and polycrystal plates of Al₂O₃ and MgO, and the contact angle between the melt and the oxide plate was measured. Titanium addition to steel was found to decrease the contact angle both on Al₂O₃ and MgO, but more titanium was needed to improve the wettability on MgO than on Al₂O₃. The addition of other elements, Nb, Mn and Al, did not improve the wettability between the steel melt and oxide plates. At the interface between Ti added well-wetted steel melt and oxide plate, reaction layer was formed. The layer was identified as Ti₂O₃ for 1% Ti added steel and TiO for 5% Ti added steel. Thermodynamic calculation supported the formation of these reaction products. It was concluded that the improvement of the wettability was achieved by the formation of the Ti-oxide reaction layers immediately after the melting of the steel and that the contact angles decreased depending mainly on the materials of reaction layers.