Carbides refinement and mechanical properties improvement of H13 die steel by magnetic-controlled electroslag remelting

Abstract

The effect of an axial static magnetic field (ASMF) on the carbides and mechanical properties of electroslag remelted H13 die steel was studied in current work. Optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to analyze the solidification structure and carbide morphology of electroslag remelting (ESR) ingots. The FEI Aspex Explorer was utilized to detect the inclusions in H13 ESR ingots. Compared with conventional ESR, the application of ASMF in this study made the metal molten pool shallower and flatter, resulting in shorter local solidification time and uniform distribution of solute atoms, which alleviated the element segregation degree, and further inhibited the formation of primary carbides. The magnetic-controlled electroslag remelting (MC-ESR) process not only refined the dendrite structure (tended to grow parallel to the ingot axis) and the carbides, but also improved the inclusion removal efficiency and mechanical properties of H13 ESR ingots.