Abstract
The volatilization loss of manganese during the vacuum smelting process is one of the key factors that determines the manufacturing cost and quality of manganese steel. In this study, the laboratory experiments and thermodynamic calculations were performed to investigate volatilization behavior of manganese from molten steels with different alloying methods in vacuum process. Based on the thermodynamic analysis, with the increase of manganese content, the partial vapor pressure of the manganese component increased, resulting in manganese being easily volatilized from molten steel. The carbon content in the steel shows an evident influence on partial vapor pressure of manganese component, and a higher carbon content in steel leads to a lower partial vapor pressure of manganese, but it not influenced by the silicon content. Compared with the alloying method of high carbon ferromanganese, the volatilization loss of manganese in the alloying method of silicon manganese presents faster decay, agreeing well with the thermodynamic analysis. Besides, the volatile fraction generated in the alloying method of high-carbon ferromanganese is composed of a large amount of MnO nanorods with a lateral length approximately 500 nm and a small number of Mn3O4/Mn nanoparticles with a diameter less than 500 nm. Additionally, the volatile fraction generated in the alloying method of silicon manganese shows Mn3O4 nanoparticles as the main phase. It can be inferred that the existence of the manganese oxide phase is attributed to the high chemical activity of nanoscale particles within air.
Highlights
Manganese is an indispensable alloying element in steel, owing to its ability to significantly improve the strength and toughness of steel through solid solution strengthening and dispersion strengthening mechanisms [1,2]
5500 Mn Mn where xMn is the molar fraction of manganese in the molten steel; rMn is the Raoultian activity
The volatilization manganese was was investigated by laboratory experiments forsteel
Summary
Manganese is an indispensable alloying element in steel, owing to its ability to significantly improve the strength and toughness of steel through solid solution strengthening and dispersion strengthening mechanisms [1,2]. Medium manganese steels (5–12 wt% Mn) as the third-generation advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) are in the limelight, and this is attributed to their exhibiting extraordinary combination of ultra-high strength, excellent plasticity, and low production costs, leading to great applications in automotive, construction, and high-speed trains industries [3,4,5,6]. The control of high yield and narrow composition of manganese in the smelting process plays an important role in final steel quality and costs of raw materials. The Ruhrstahl-Heraeus (RH) process was developed for degassing, decarbonization, efficient alloying, inclusion removal, and rapid homogenization of the molten steel, and it is widely used to achieve high cleanliness for the industrial manufacture of high-quality manganese steels [9,10].
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