It is well known that the sulfide inclusions have a remarkable effect on the hot-workability of steel. In the present study, an examination was made to test the hot-workability of alloyed steel, containing various types of sulfide inclusion. And then, the deformation characteristics of individual sulfide during hot-working were clarified. For these purpose, the microscopic observations, chemical and X-ray analyses were made on sulfides isolated from specimens before and after forging.
It was confirmed that addition of alloying elements, such as Ni, Co, Mo, W and Si had little effect on the nature of sulfide inclusion, and hence did not show any improvement of the hot-workability. On the other hand, addition of Zr, Ti, Mn, Al, V, Nb, and Cr turned iron sulfide into special sulfides, namely ZrS, TiS, MnS, Al
2S
3, VS, NbS and CrS, respectively, and improved the hot-workability of steel.
MnS, CrS and Al
2S
3 showed considerable plasticity, and deformed into ellipsoids during hot-working. In the case of VS, NbS and TiS, however, fracturing with little or no deformation was observed. ZrS was a hard sulfide, and was scaresly changed during hot-working of steel.
View full abstract