Macrosegregation of Alloying Elements in Hot Top of Large Size High Strength Steel Ingot

Abstract

The chemical heterogeneities of alloying elements were evaluated in the hot top plus the top of a 40-ton ingot of as-cast high strength low alloy steel. The chemical compositions of small samples, taken from a slice cut along the longitudinal axis of the ingot, were obtained using mass spectroscopy. The chemical results were used to construct the chemical heterogeneity maps of C, Mn, Ni, Cr and Mo in the entire slice. The analyses of the different maps indicate the existence of positive segregation for all segregated elements except Ni where no segregation was observed. The most important macrosegregation was revealed in the centerline of the ingot. Carbon presents the highest degree of segregation whereas Mo presents the lowest one. In term of homogeneity degrees, Mn, Ni, Cr and Mo present better homogeneity than C whether in the top of the ingot or in the hot top.