Inclusion Characteristics in Steel with CeO2 Nanoparticle Addition

The application of Ce oxides in oxide metallurgy has received extensive attention, but until now, the direct adding of CeO2 into molten steel to generate Ce oxides has not occurred. In this paper, a mixture of CeO2 and Si nanoparticles were added into molten steel. The resultant formation of micrometer scale Ce-bearing oxides confirmed its adding validity. This behavior may be interpreted as the reactivity between CeO2 and [Al], and the improved wettability between CeO2 and molten steel with the assistance of Si powder. Thus, when the quantity of CeO2 is kept constant, its added yield should increase when increasing the added quantity of Si. This was verified by the larger percentage of Ce-bearing oxides of the total oxides and the greater average content of Ce in Ce-bearing oxides after normalization. Moreover, compared with the blank sample, statistical results indicated that the oxides in CeO2-modified samples were refined, and their dispersion homogeneity was enhanced. This comparison indicates the effectiveness of the external adding method in oxide metallurgy.