OXIDE METALLURGY-ITS PURPOSES AND PRACTICAL APPROACHES

Useder certain conditions, nonmctallic inclusions such as oxides, sulfides, nitrides and carbides are no longer harmful to sted service properties. With the new concept of oxide metallurgy, these properties can be improved by generating fine oxide inclusions which serve as heterogeneous nuclei for sulfide and fine ferrite1-4]. A novel continuous casting (CC) process is expected to be created with the utilization of oxide metallurgy. This is also useful for the forthcoming technologies of direct rolling and near-net-shape casting. The main idea of oxide metallurgy consists of an alternative oxidation technology. It is based on steels treated by complex metals such as Ti, Zr, Ti-Zr alloys and rare earth metals. The selected deoxidants should follow the required conditions which are concluded in this paper.