A coupled thermodynamic model of inclusions precipitation both in liquid and solid phase and microsegregation of solute elements during solidification of heat-resistant steel containing cerium was established.Then the model was validated by the SEM analysis of the industrial products.The type and amount of inclusions in solidification structure of 253 MA heat-resistant steel were predicted by the model,and the valuable results for the inclusions controlling in 253 MA steel were obtained.When the cerium addition increases,the types of inclusions transform from SiO2 and MnS to Ce2O3 and Ce2O2S in 253 MA steel and the precipitation temperature of SiO2 and MnS decreases.The inclusions CeS and CeN convert to Ce2O3 and Ce2O2S as the oxygen content increases and Ce2O3 and CeN convert to Ce2O2 S,Ce3S4,and MnS as the sulfur content increases.The formation temperature of SiO2 increases when the oxygen content increases and the MnS precipitation temperature increases when the sulfur content increases.There is only a small quantity of inclusions containing cerium in 253 MA steel with high cleanliness,i.e.,low oxygen and sulfur contents.By contrast,a mass of SiO2,MnS and Ce2O2 S are formed in steel when the oxygen and sulfur contents are high enough.The condition that MnS precipitates in 253 MA steel is 1.2 w[O]+w[S]>0.01%and SiO2 precipitates when 2 w[O]+w[S]>0.017%(w[S]<0.005%)and w[O]>0.006%(w[S]>0.005%).
Weathering steel is widely used in various fields due to its excellent mechanical properties and high corrosion resistance. The effect of chromium content on the S450 EW weathering steel in cyclic immersion test was studied. The results indicated that the corrosion resistance of S450 EW weathering steel is closely related to chromium content. The addition of chromium significantly inhibited the weathering steel corrosion. The corrosion rate of experimental steel after 96 h immersion was 1.101 g·m-2·h-1. The rust of S450 EW weathering steel was mainly constituted of Fe OOH and Fe3O4 phase, and the elevation of chromium content promoted the formation of α-Fe OOH. The fine precipitates of the two phases contributed to the formation of dense dust layer of test steel. Furthermore, the increase of chromium is beneficial for the cure of original defects and cracks of the rust layer via the enrichment of chromium. The corrosion potential and the resistance of corrosion process were thus increased, protecting the experimental steel from further corrosion. A S450 EW steel with corrosion resistance more than 1.5 times of Q450NQR1 steel was prepared.
The sulfuric acid leaching kinetics of South African chromite was investigated. The negative influence of a solid product layer constituted of a silicon-rich phase and chromium-rich sulfate was eliminated by crushing the chromite and by selecting proper leaching conditions. The dimensionless change in specific surface area and the conversion rate of the chromite were observed to exhibit a proportional relationship. A modified shrinking particle model was developed to account for the change in reactive surface area, and the model was fitted to experimental data. The resulting model was observed to describe experimental findings very well. Kinetics analysis revealed that the leaching process is controlled by a chemical reaction under the employed experimental conditions and the activation energy of the reaction is 48 kJ ·mol–1.
