Search Documents

By Adriano Gonçalves dos Reis

In the development of the structural materials for the advanced applications, as in the aerospace industry, there is a constant strive to increase both strength and toughness. Maraging steels are iron-nickel alloys designed to combine both properties that are achieved through the age-hardening of low carbon martensite. This alloy have a metastable martensitic structure that can revert to austenite when heated in temperatures close to the aging temperature, and this effect can be enhanced with the temperature increasing and time of treatment. Therefore, the study of creep behavior in elevated temperatures has technological importance to the development of this material. In this work the creep behavior of a maraging 300 steel solution annealed is evaluated by carrying out creep tests at 650ºC and in a stress of 200, 300 and 500 MPa. Creep parameters, such as steady state creep rate (?????), final creep time (tf), and stress exponent from secondary creep (n) are determined, considering that they are important to evaluate the creep resistance of the material.

Aug 7, 2018

By Rogério Felício dos Santos

Nitriding of metallic materials using electric discharges generated during electric discharge machining (EDM) is a recently developed technique. The aim of this paper was to correlate mechanical properties of a nitrided layer produced in AISI 4140 steel by EDM nitriding with the type and amount of nitrides. A conventional die-sinking EDM equipment and electrolytic copper electrodes were used to generate the electric discharges. The electrolyte was a solution of urea in deionized water. Knoop microhardness profiles assessed the variation of hardness along the nitrided layer, whereas the elastic modulus of this layer was measured using nanoindentation tests. Optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the nitrided surface. The results showed the formation of a nitrided layer containing iron nitrides with average thickness of around 25 µm. The amount of nitrides reduced from the surface towards the centre and these results correlated well with microhardness profiles obtained.

Jul 31, 2018

By Jan Bak

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), which is operated by the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), was inaugurated in 1959 and was the first Integrated Steel Plant in the public sector in India. In 2013, RSP commissioned their No. 5, 4060 m³ Blast Furnace, India's largest. It was built as a turn-key project by a consortium consisting of Danieli Corus and Tata Projects Ltd. and is entirely based on the technology and know-how of Danieli Corus. The new Blast Furnace is the key element of an expansion program that doubles the plant's production capacity and with much of the existing ironmaking capacity reaching the end of its technical and economic life span, it enables RSP to meet existing as well as growing demand for its products. This article discusses how this greenfield Blast Furnace was built in an existing and operating Integrated Steel Plant. It covers the accommodation of land, planning of the new installation to fit the available plot as well as the updated logistical lay-out of the plant. Technical details of the installation are presented, including their consequences for RSP's environmental performance and new perspectives for campaign planning.

Aug 2, 2018

By Wagner Viana Bielefeldt, Vinicius Cardoso da Rocha, Augusto Lachini Pereira, Antônio Cezar Faria Vilela

A minor change in the chemical composition and temperature affects the slag viscosity, which has a great extent of the physical properties in regarding refining slags. Optimizing those parameters may affect the steel cleanliness. The viscosity measurement process is considered expensive, so the cost-effectiveness does not favor the measures at high-temperatures. Alternatively, it is possible to apply mathematical models or thermodynamic softwares to obtain viscosities for a given range of chemical composition and temperature of slags. The present work contemplates a validation of the experimental data, collected in the literature, with a calculated data and proposes an accurate representation of iso-viscosity curves applied for secondary steelmaking slags, covering the composition ranges: 0–100 wt.% CaO, 0–80 wt.% SiO2, 0–77 wt.% Al2O3 and 0–15 wt.% MgO (CSAM) system at 1500ºC. The viscosity representation fields include fully liquid and a partially liquid slags in the CSAM system and the viscosities were calculated using the FactSage 7.2 (for Liquid Phase) and the Roscoe-Einstein equation (for Phase mixture) for a total of 5976 slags. The preliminary results indicated that there is a great convergence between the calculated and experimental viscosities data, promoting an efficient approximation of the iso-viscosity curves for the CSAM slag system in the high-temperatures.

Nov 1, 2019

By Rodrigo Ribeiro de Andrade, Túlio César Nogueira, Ed Juarez Mendes Taiss, Nilton José Lucinda de Oliveira

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of an eventual slab central macro-segregation in microalloyed steels with low Mn content (0.80%) and high Nb content (0.08 to 0.10%) on the kinetics of recrystallization of austenite during its rolling, on its critical temperatures, that is, of non-recrystallization (Tnr), start Ar3 and finish Ar1 of ferrite transformation and its response to a simulated industrial thermomechanical processing. The determination of the austenite recrystallization kinetics was made through isothermal double compression tests using a dilatometer, while the critical temperatures were determined through hot torsion tests in a Gleeble® 3800. It was found that austenite recrystallization kinetics, Ar3 and Ar1 temperatures did not present significant changes for the samples extracted both at ¼ of the thickness and at the core of the plate, indicating that, as expected, the central segregation in this type of steel was not intense to the point of affecting this phenomenon. The Tnr values determined for the samples extracted in the core of the plate were, on average, 30°C lower than those obtained from specimens extracted at ¼ thickness, which suggests that a significant portion of the carbonitrides present in the core of the slab are eutectic and coarse, not having completely dissolved during the reheating of the specimens. This occurred despite the fact that the austenitization temperature adopted in this treatment theoretically leads to the total dissolution of Nb, as seems to have occurred in the case of specimens extracted at ¼ of thickness, where carbonitrides have a finer size.

Oct 1, 2019

By Mathias Woydt

The tribological and mechanical properties of binderless and metal-bonded niobium carbides (8 or 12 vol.-% of Cobalt, 12 vol.-% of Fe3Al) are presented. Rotating disks made of niobium carbide bearing hard metals were mated against alumina (99.7%) under unlubricated (dry) unidirectional sliding tests (0,1 m/s to 12,0 m/s; 22°C and 400°C) as well as in oscillation tests (f= 20 Hz, ?x= 0,2 mm, 2/50/98% rel. humidity, n= 105/106 cycles). Microstructure and phase compositions were determined as well. The tribological data obtained were benchmarked with different ceramics, cermets, hard metals and thermally sprayed coatings, where NbC bonded with 8% and 12% Co presented above 8 m/s the lowest wear rates so far in such a benchmark. Binderless NbC (HP-NbC1) and the metal bonded NbCs exhibited low wear rates under dry sliding associated with high P?V load carrying capacities. NbC-based hard metal bonded with 12 vol.-% of Fe3Al resulted in a higher hardness level than for 12 vol.-% cobalt. The tribological profile established revealed a strong position of NbC bearing materials under tribological considerations and for closed tribosystems against established reference tribo-couples.

Jul 31, 2018

By Rodrigo Sanchotene Silva

Currently the industries of paint have directed their efforts on cleaner production of products that provide effective performance in corrosion protection of metallic materials. This work search introduce a new alternative of organic coating, without the presence of hazardous metals and replace equipments commercials used method of anodic protection for protection of oxidized metals. From this it, was produced Smart Paint (SP), consisting of Paint Acrylic Commercial (PAC) mixed the 1 % of binder, compound by the conducting polymer, Polyaniline Emeraldine Base (PAni EB) and plasticizer 4-chloro-3-methylphenol. The SP and PAC were applied to plates of carbon steel AISI 1010, with the aid of dip coat technique and then were subjected to drying for 48 h. The SP was characterized by thermals and physicochemical analyzes in order to verify possible changes in chemical properties of the ink produced, beyond perform electrochemical tests of Open Circuit Potential and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, employing equipment Potentiostat/Galvanostat Autolab PGSTAT302 Ecochemie, and aqueous 2 mol.L-1 of H2SO4. The results obtained allow us to state that the plasticizer does not alter the electrochemical properties of PAni and application of binder PAni EB to PAC does not alter the physicochemical properties of commercial coating. The binder PAni EB adds to PAC the capacity to induce the formation or maintenance of protective oxides in oxidizable metals submitted to harsh environments, method known as anodic corrosion protection.

Aug 8, 2018

By Jônatas Venancio Barbosa, Dagoberto Brandão Santos, Túlio Magno Füzessy de Melo

In this work, the mechanical and metallurgical behavior of titanium added ultra-low carbon (ULC-Ti) steel under hot and warm working conditions was studied by means of dilatometer compression tests. Double compression schedules were performed at temperatures between 700°C and 1000°C, inter-pass times of 0.5-100 s, and deformations of 0.5 and 0.3 in the first and second stages, respectively, with strain rate of 1 s-1. The analysis of the flow curves obtained allowed the evaluation of the softening characteristics of the steel. The softening and microstructure features indicate different restoration mechanisms depending on the temperature range. Static recrystallization with rapid microstructure restoration is observed at temperatures within the austenitic and intercritical field. Strain induced boundary motion and recovery mechanisms apparently control the restoration process in the ferrite region. In general, flow stress curves showed dynamic recovery behavior. Only the deformation in the intercritical region produced a peak in the flow stress curves. Isothermal holding tests associated with single hit compression indicated the presence of dynamic strain induced transformation, accelerating the softening kinetics at the intercritical region.

Oct 1, 2019

By Luiz Bruno de Oliveira Araujo, Luciano Morais Teixeira, Luiz Gustavo Pedrosa de Melo, Altair Lúcio de Souza

The off-line simulation of the metallurgical process in an industrial line brings several benefits such as: evaluation of the influence of the main parameters that affect the results of the process, comparison between different set ups, greater assertiveness in operational adjustments, process optimization and reduction tests for development of new products. With this objective, a software for offline simulation of the hot strip mill process of Gerdau Ouro Branco was developed based on the logic of calculations implemented in the online model. The software results in important process variables such as mill pass scale, load, torque, and power at each pass, temperature and the hot mean flow stress of the simulated material. During rolling mill process the strip presents different temperatures and time between passes for different points along the length, which directly influences the hot strength of the product and consequently in the calculated variables, thus the calculations executed by the software were divided to three points of the strip, head, body and tail bringing the individual results to each of these positions.

Oct 1, 2019

By Samuel Filgueiras Rodrigues, Clodualdo Aranas Jr., Gedeon Silva Reis, Eden Santos Silva, Fulvio Siciliano

When austenite is deformed above the Ae3 temperature, partial amount of it transforms dynamically into ferrite by a displacive mechanism. After unloading, it retransforms back into the stable austenite by a diffusional process. This influences the rolling load which decreases under isothermal condition or does not increase with decreasing temperature as rapidly as expected under cooling. Plate rolling simulations under isothermal and continuous cooling conditions were carried out on a 0.09 wt.% Nb X-70 steel. Pass strains of 0.2 were employed together with interpass times of 10 s, and 30 s for the cooling conditions and 0.3 with interval of 10 s at 900 °C for the isothermal experiments; strain rate of 1 s-1 was used during the simulations. The mean-flow-stress (MFS`s) behavior of both conditions indicates that dynamic transformation and dynamic recrystallization were taking place during straining. The critical strains for the initiation of dynamic transformation fell around 0.06 while the critical strain for DRX was 0.12. It has been shown that ferrite is formed due to the applied deformation of roughing passes and increases its volume fraction throughout the finishing rolling stage. Under cooling conditions, the ferrite formation is also favored as the temperature approaches the Ae3 line. Such ferrite forms when the driving force for dynamic transformation is higher than the total free energy barrier preventing its formation. This obstacle consists of the free energy difference between austenite and ferrite as well as the lattice dilatation work and shear accommodation work. The addition of Nb retards the retransformation of the ferrite into austenite. Moreover, holding times after rolling increases the amount of austenite available for microstructure control on subsequent stages. The dynamic transformation (DT) mechanism can be used to design improved rolling schedules

Oct 1, 2019

By Kelen Juliane Mucelin

In order to better understand the tribological behavior of self-lubricating materials, Fe-Si-C matrix composites containing solid lubricants added during the mixing step were studied. The samples were produced by conventional powder metallurgy route, presenting total contents of 5%, 7.5% and 10% in volume of h-BN and graphite mixtures as solid lubricants. The composites were evaluated in terms of tribological properties, under reciprocating sliding conditions, and mechanical properties by using tensile tests. Additionally, the wear scars were characterized by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. Higher total contents of solid lubricants greatly increased scuffing resistance however decreased mechanical properties. Furthermore, increasing h-BN contents reduces both properties. These results confirmed the applicability of such sintered composites as self-lubricating parts, reaching values up to 7000 N.m for scuffing resistance combined with ultimate tensile strength of 220 MPa.

Jul 31, 2018

By Mariana Macedo de Oliveira Lima, Pedro Emílio Gazola, Andrei Locatelli

Boron steel is used in the industry due to its great wear and impact resistance. During the hot rolling production of 15B29 steel flat bars it is a recurrent problem that the bars will present warping while on the cooling bed. Control this phenomenon is an opportunity to have better productivity, preventing metallic losses. Through the observation of the macro and microstructure samples produced with different reheating temperatures and cooling rates, it was found the presence of residual stresses and cracks on warped bars macrostructure. The residual stresses appearance suggest that the material cooling is too fast. Billets temperature on the reheating furnace of 1230°C reduced to 1100°C and the production pace slowed down. Bars temperature when arriving the cooling bed was reduced from higher than 670°C to 625°C. The results obtained made it possible to produce the material with better quality, reducing the warping effect at the cooling bed. The major influence on the materials warping was identified as the cooling rate at the cooling bed and the reheating furnace temperature was adjusted to provide a homogeneous temperature along the bars.

Oct 1, 2019

By Tiago Seixas Bittencourt

Technological developments, associated with the constant worry about the environmental impacts arising from industrial activity, it has driven the development of technologies and practices for efficient fumes and particulates capture arising from the manufacturing processes of steel in steel plants in general. Currently, the electric steelshops in operation with Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF), seek parameterize/design dedusting systems able to retain most of the particulates generated during melting and refining of steel in FEA through configurations of equipment, technologies and parameters operation in order to equalize the antagonistic relationship between effective fumes capture and energy balance of the EAF. The present work gets as a fundamental premise to evaluate critically the possible different settings of the usual dust removal systems, as well as their respective classical parameterizations. The work main purpose is to establish a general rule evaluation technique for dedusting system considering the different modes of operation of an Electric Arc Furnace.

Jul 30, 2018

By Samuel F. Rodrigues, Clodualdo Aranas Jr., Fulvio Siciliano

The application of thermo-mechanical control processing (TMCP) in hot rolling of steels has become a common routine since the last 60 years. The understanding of the physical metallurgy behind TMCP played a major role in the early developments. Physical and numerical simulation works are performed firstly to derive the fundamental metallurgical knowledge and secondly to conceive existing TMCP practices. In this paper, a summary TMCP techniques is presented. The occurrence of dynamic transformation of ferrite in the austenite region is shown by means of synchrotron light diffraction methods. This phase transformation mechanism is taken into consideration and its effects on TMCP are proposed in an exploratory way.

Oct 1, 2019

By Gustavo Borges Tiboni

The erosive wear caused by the impact of solid particles against a surface is a tribological phenomenon present in many segments of the industry, such as transportation, aerospace, mining, power generation, among others. The most usual method to set the wear rate is by measuring the mass loss of the material. In order to apply one technique with potential to determine the rate of erosion wear, this study developed a dedicated equipment and conducted preliminary erosion tests monitored by non-destructive testing known as acoustic emission technique (AE). This can be defined as a technique able to detect mechanical waves generated by the release of elastic energy accumulated in the material. Erosion tests were performed in order to evaluate the ability of equipment to collect data from AE and to correlate these data with the wear of the samples. Samples of low carbon steel eroded by the impact of angular aluminum oxide particles suspended in air at three different velocities: 45, 57 and 67 m/s. The impact angle between the particles and the sample was set at 30 degrees and the test temperature at approximately 20°C. The wear rate has changed with the velocity in accordance with the kinetic energy of the particles and the AE parameter RMS showed sensitivity to the variation of particle impact velocity and to the wear of the sample eroded. The rate of AE signals collected over time correlated with the flow of particles striking the sample, and with the parameters of energy, rise time and duration of the signal.

Jul 31, 2018

By Túlio Magno Fuzessy de Melo, Luciano Santos Marques, Vicente Tadeu Lopes Buono

The influence of the coiling temperature after hot strip rolling on the microstructure and on the tensile and hole expansion properties of a 800 MPa multiphase steel was investigated. For the temperatures between 150°C and 600°C the microstructure consisted of a ferritic matrix with a dispersion of fine martensite-austenite (MA) and regions of degenerated upper bainite. In all cases the ferrite presented a heterogeneous mixture of polygonal, quasi-polygonal and acicular grains. The yield and tensile strengths showed a tendency of decreasing with the increasing coiling temperature, probably because of the larger fraction of MA particles at lower temperatures and higher fraction of quasi-polygonal ferrite at higher temperatures. The elongation was not significantly affected by the variation of coiling temperature. The average hole expansion ratio showed a maximum of 80% for the material coiled at 400°C and fell below 50% only for the coiling temperature of 150°C, probably due to the larger hardness difference between the ferrite matrix and the MA particles.

Oct 1, 2019

By Valeria Romina Stricker

Acerbrag es una empresa Argentina siderúrgica de 50 años de trayectoria, desde el año 2007 pertenece al grupo Votorantim de origen Brasilero. Se dedica a la elaboración de aceros largos para la construcción. La planta industrial cuenta con un proceso de acería integrado, horno eléctrico, horno cuchara y máquina de colada continua. La materia prima es 100% chatarra, característica que la diferencia del resto de las acerías del país. Debido a esto el enfoque principal de este proyecto es reducir el costo de fabricación mediante un “empobrecimiento” de la carga metálica a partir de la flexibilización de los límites de especificación. Esto implica un mayor control del desempeño de los procesos a fin de detectar posibles desvíos, para ello fue necesario implementar la utilización de herramientas estadísticas y gráficas para su monitoreo. La modificación en el mix de fabricación no muestra una alteración significativa en la composición química y propiedades mecánicas de los productos terminados, situación favorable para la continuidad del proyecto. Se observa además, de la reducción de costo esperada, una ventaja en la operación del patio de chatarra y el proceso de acería y en la utilización de chatarras con altos niveles de residuales tales como Cr – Ni.

Aug 16, 2017

By Marcel Antonio Arcari Bassani

In the mining industry, it is common to have data collected in various formats. In an open pit mining operation, at the early stages of exploration samples are obtained from diamond drillholes. During the production stage, samples are collected from blastholes. The last is more numerous but less precise. From a geostatistical view, this dissimilarity has to be considered to integrate the two sources of information. To combine this different data, three methodologies were investigated: simple kriging with local varying mean, cokriging and ordinary kriging. The exhaustive Walker Lake data set was used and it is considered the source to obtain the true grades. Initially, samples were obtained from the exhaustive data set at a regular spacing grid of 20 x 20 meters. Next, samples were obtained again from the exhaustive dataset at a regular spacing of 5 x 5 meters and a relative error of 25% was added. Then, both data were used to estimate blocks using the three methods mentioned. The grade tonnage curves were compared with the true block grade distribution. Moreover, the block misclassification was evaluated. The results showed that ordinary kriging produced estimates closer to the true block grade distribution and reduced the block misclassification.

Aug 8, 2018

By Evan Thomas

It has been shown before that liquids can slip at a solid boundary, which prompted the idea that parallel-surface bearings can be obtained by the use of alternating slip and non-slip regions in the direction of fluid flow. The amount of slip at the wall depends upon the surface tension at the liquid - solid interface, which in turn depends on the chemical composition of the surface and its roughness. In the present study a heterogeneous surface was created by coating half of a circular glass disc with a coating repellent to glycerol. A rotating glass disc was placed at a known distance above the coated stationary surface and the gap was filled with glycerol. With the top surface moving in the direction of slip to non-slip region, a pressure build up can be theoretically predicted. The pressure gradient in the two regions is constant, similar to that in a Rayleigh step bearing, with the maximum pressure at the boundary. In order to accurately measure the force generated by the pressure increase, a load cell was attached to the heterogeneous disc. Experiments were conducted by varying both sliding speed and distance, and the resultant load carrying capacity was measured and compared with theoretical calculations. This allowed the slip coefficient of the coated surface to be evaluated.

Jul 31, 2018

By Michael McDonald

The cold-rolled steel output of cold-rolling mill (CRM) complexes are sometimes constrained by their batch annealing facilities (BAF). This paper examines a cost-effective solution to increasing capacity and quality of the BAF thereby making additional capacity available for CRM output. The solution involves applying a structured system of scheduling and operation to the BAF, using a proven level-2 software model. The system presented has been applied to a wide variety of BAF with all the leading furnace brands. Whether using traditional HN atmosphere or 100% hydrogen, peak performance can be achieved when using a properly configured, on-line, physical thermodynamic model. Given that it is not practical to place a thermocouple in each coil that is being annealed, various methods have historically been used to estimate the time required to properly anneal all the coils in the charge. This paper examines how the latest technology, in wide use throughout the USA, uses a physical thermodynamic model to shorten average cycle times, thereby increasing productivity and reducing energy consumption. The paper also examines the benefit of building thermodynamically balanced charges to further optimize the BAF operation and improve quality consistency by decreasing mechanical property variations.

Jul 30, 2018