Abstract
An investigation into the cleanness of steel manufactured by a major Scandinavian producer of steel for railway wheels has been carried out. Samples taken before and after secondary refining in the ladle and after degassing were compared with samples taken similarly from a heat including the addition of a calcium carbide (CaC2 ) slag modifier. The amount, size distribution, and composition of non-metallic inclusions, as well as the slag compositions of both heats, were determined. With the addition of CaC2 , the total number of inclusions in the sample taken before casting was found to decrease, and the size distribution revealed the presence of mostly small inclusions (between 2·8 and 5·6 μm). The assessment of railway wheel specimens revealed that the inclusion content in CaC2 treated steel was lower than that for standard steel.
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