Three-dimensional investigation of non-metallic inclusions during powder metallurgy production

Abstract: Due to growing demands for steel powder properties and continuous evolution of the powder metallurgy (PM) production it is necessary to apply new investigation technics and research applications for quality investigation of the PM products. In addition, it is important to be able to predict the probable maximum size of inclusions. The industrial scale sampling of steel was made in Höganäs AB. The three dimensional (3D) analysis of non-metallic inclusions obtained by electrolytic extraction (EE) method was applied for metal samples taken from liquid steel before water-atomization and after powder forging process. It was demonstrated that the application of the 3D analysis has a perspective and possibility to be used independently or like a reference during 2D analysis of inclusions in powder metallurgy products. The tundish samples have the maximum total number of inclusions but have smaller size of complex inclusion. The size range of inclusions in the ladle and tundish samples is between 1 and 46 μm. The main type of inclusions is spherical (Si-Ca-Al-Mg-O in composition). The powder forged samples have two main types of non-metallic particles: “gray” carbon saturated (10-250 μm) and “bright” clustered oxide particles (1-37 μm with Cr-Si-Mn-Mg-Al-O in composition). The probable maximum size of inclusions was estimated based on a new particle size distribution (PSD) and the standard extreme value distribution (EVD) methods. Both methods predicted that in 1 kg of metal the maximum size of spherical inclusions is < 15 μm in liquid steel samples and the maximum length of “bright” clustered oxide particles is < 63 μm in powder forged samples. However, the prediction of the maximum size by PSD method showed necessity of the further optimization.