Investigation of Primary Carbides in a Commercial-Sized Electroslag Remelting Ingot of H13 Steel

Xijie Wang,Yu Liu,Qiang Wang,Fang Wang,Yulong Cao,Guangqiang Li

doi:10.3390/met9121247

Xijie Wang, Yu Liu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/met9121247

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Abstract

The characteristics of primary carbides in a commercial-sized (one ton) electroslag remelting (ESR) ingot of AISI H13 steel were investigated. The interaction between the primary carbides and inclusions was also clarified. The results indicate that there are two types of primary carbides, V-rich and Mo-rich primary carbides, in the H13 ESR ingot. The quantity, the area fraction, and the size of the two primary carbides tend to decrease from the center of the H13 ESR ingot to the outer surface. Additionally, the V-rich primary carbide is obviously larger than the Mo-rich primary carbide. The Al2O3 inclusion can promote the precipitation of the V-rich primary carbide, while the MnS inclusion encourages the precipitation of Mo-rich primary carbide. The CaO∙Al2O3 inclusion cannot act as the nucleation site for the precipitation of the two primary carbides. The solid fraction that the V-rich primary carbide begins to precipitate ranges from 0.965 to 0.983, and that for the Mo-rich primary carbide and the MnS inclusion change from 0.9990 to 0.9998 and from 0.989 to 0.990, respectively.

Highlights

AISI H13 steel is widely used as the raw material of die casting, forging, punching, and extruding tools for its high hardness, high toughness, and good thermal fatigue resistance [1,2]
The results indicate that the size and area fraction of the primary carbide present a decreasing trend with the increasing of the cooling rate as calculated above
In order to improve the performance of H13 steel, it is essential to understand the precipitation of

Summary

Introduction

AISI H13 steel is widely used as the raw material of die casting, forging, punching, and extruding tools for its high hardness, high toughness, and good thermal fatigue resistance [1,2]. Since these tools are always employed in harsh working conditions, such as high temperature and heavy impact, the high-quality raw material, i.e., AISI H13 steel, is of vital importance to extend the service life of these tools [3,4]. The electric current creates enough Joule heating in highly resistive molten slag for melting the consumable electrode

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