Preparation of Ultra-Fine MgO•Al2O3 Spinel Powder and its Metallurgy Behavior in Low Carbon Steel

Abstract

Micron, sub-micron and nanometer sized MgO•Al2O3 ultra-fine powders were prepared by gel precipitation, solid-phase synthesis, sol-gel and flame throwing pyrogenation methods. XRD analysis showed that all of the ultra-fine powder is pure with the single MgO•Al2O3 spinel phase. The powder size was measured by laser granularity analyzer and the average size is 1780, 505 and 60 nm with a quite uniform distribution of particle size. MgO•Al2O3 spinel powder with different granularity were sprayed into molten low carbon steel in MgO crucible and MoSi2 furnace at 1873 K. Quantitative microscopic examination showed that big particle inclusions reduce and small particle inclusions increase, as a result, the average size reduce. Data comparison from spraying powders with different size showed that spraying MgO•Al2O3 of nanometer tends to cause more small inclusions in molten steel. The sprayed steel samples were rolled and heat treated for the mechanical properties tests, which showed spraying nanometer MgO•Al2O3 is the best way to improve mechanical property of steel.