State of the Art in Control of Inclusions and Microalloying Elements in Tire Cord Steel and Saw Wire Steel

Abstract

The extremely thin diameter of steel tire cord wire and steel saw wire are about 80 and 50 μm, respectively. It is supposed that this kind of ultrafine steel wire is easy to break due to large and hard nonmetallic inclusions in the steel during the drawing and standing process. This paper reviews the research advances on inclusion and microalloying elements control in tire cord steel and saw wire steel in the past 20 years. Including: 1) calculation of thermodynamics of inclusion formation in quaternary system; 2) effects of alkali metal alloys and its oxides on inclusions; 3) control of Ti‐containing inclusion and SiO2‐MnO‐Al2O3 inclusion; 4) effect of rare earth on inclusions in saw wire steel; 5) the behavior of inclusions at the solidification front of liquid steel; 6) the effect of inclusion size and morphology on the fracture behavior of steel wire; 7) ultrasonic technology was used to remove inclusions in cord steel; 8) the effect of C, Cr, Co, Ce and V on microstructure and properties of tire cord steel and saw wire steel. Finally, this paper summarizes twelve key problems that should be studied in the next decade to provide reference for metallurgical workers.