The investigation of precipitation behavior of titanium compounds for high titanium steel based on in situ observation

The effects of cooling rate, Ti content, and casting temperature on titanium compounds for high titanium steel were investigated. In-situ observation of high titanium steel during remelting and solidification was carried out by using a High Temperature Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope (HTCSLM), and the observed results were in good agreement with the thermodynamic and kinetic calculations. The observation and calculation results both show that the inclusions in high titanium steel first precipitate in the form of TiN, followed by TiC precipitates as temperature decreases, eventually forming TiCxN1-x type inclusions at room temperature. The initial precipitation temperature of the inclusions increases with the increase of Ti content in molten steel, whereas casting temperature has little effect on the initial precipitation temperature of inclusions. In addition, the size of TiN inclusions increases with the increase of Ti content in steel but decreases with the increase in cooling rate.