Castability of Mn-Si killed low carbon wire rod steel

Inclusion characteristics of clogged tundish nozzle, which occurred at the time of producing low carbon grade of steel for CO2 welding wire rods through basis oxygen steelmaking-ladle furnace-continuous casting route, was analyzed. Fifteen frozen liquid steel samples were collected from the clogged tundish nozzles after casting of low carbon grade of steel. The steel samples were subjected to cutting, grinding, diamond polishing and etching prior to inclusion characterization using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis (EDS). The inclusion composition, determined from the SEM-DES analysis of liquid steel samples, were plotted on the ternary MnO-SiO2-Al2O3 phase diagram for phase identification and thermodynamic analysis. Results show that the alumina rich cprundum inclusion is the main clogging agents in the low carbon grade of steel and a precise control of trace quantity is very important.