Effect of Modification Treatment on Inclusions in 430 Stainless Steel by Mg-Al Alloys Original Research Article

Refining process of 430 stainless steel in AOD (argon oxygen decarburization) was simulated under the experimental condition. Al was chosen as deoxidizer, Mg-Al alloy was added in process of refining, and slag used in oxidation period of AOD was chosen in the experiments. The variation of total oxygen content, the size, morphology and composition of inclusions in refining process and the mechanical properties, pitting corrosion resistance of final samples were studied. The results show that no obvious differences in total oxygen content were observed among all the experiments. Neither chain nor cluster Al2O3 inclusions were found in refining process of experiments treated by Mg-Al alloys, the average size of inclusions in the steel treated by Mg-Al alloys was less than that of inclusions in steel not treated by Mg-Al alloy. 430 stainless steel treated by Mg-Al alloy shows better tensile strength, yield strength, and pitting resistance than that in the contrast experiment.