Deformation and fracture of non-metallic inclusions in steel at different temperatures

Experiments were carried out to investigate the deformation and fracture of non-metallic inclusions in steel at different temperatures. The deformation of inclusions at high temperature could be characterized by viscosity. Meanwhile, the apparent deformation of inclusions at high temperature was also related to the difference of viscosity between inclusions and the steel matrix. Lower inclusion viscosity leads to better deformability when the viscosity of inclusions was smaller than that of steel matrix, otherwise, the inclusion deformation would be limited. The Young's modulus of inclusions could be used to characterize the deformation of inclusions at low temperature. Generally, the deformation of inclusions at low temperature increased with the decrease of Young's modulus. The intrinsic reason for the different characterization parameters of inclusion deformation at different temperatures was supposed to be the brittle to ductile transition phenomenon of inclusions in the process of temperature change. The work provided new ways to control the deformation of inclusions, for instance, by adjusting the temperature and strain rate during the processing of steel. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.