| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T24: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Steels for Sustainable Development III
|
| Presentation Title |
Isotopic Fingerprint – an Innovative Method to Determine the Origin of Non-Metallic Inclusions in Steel |
| Author(s) |
Kathrin Thiele, Stefan Wagner, Johanna Irrgeher, Thomas Prohaska, Susanne Katharina Michelic |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Kathrin Thiele |
| Abstract Scope |
The importance of steel cleanness is increasing as non-metallic inclusions (NMIs) significantly affect the steel's properties. Currently, the addition of rare earth elements to the steel melt is state-of-the-art to mark and trace these NMIs. However, this active tracing changes the NMIs' chemical and physical characteristics, influencing their formation and behavior in steel production. In this study, a novel passive tracing technique minimizing external impacts on NMIs by using small quantities of stable isotope tracers, thus preserving the steel's composition, is presented. Specifically, slag enriched with 26Mg was prepared and used in a high-resistance furnace experiment on a laboratory scale to explore the origins of NMIs. The method allowed to distinguish between various Mg sources, such as NMIs or refractory materials with natural isotopic levels, versus those altered by the tracer. The findings revealed multiphase NMIs that had interacted with the slag, validating the method's effectiveness for tracing NMIs. |