Understanding casting behaviour of low carbon high manganese steel through detailed characterization of mould powder and mould top slag

This study focused on multistage characterization techniques in developing an understanding of the abnormal casting behaviour of low carbon high manganese (LCHMn) steel. In addition to raw mould powder used for casting LCHMn steel, mould top slag samples were also collected for normal and abnormal casting conditions. Raw mould powder and top slag samples were characterized using XRF, XRD, and SEM-EDS to determine chemical composition, crystallinity and morphology. The chemical composition results revealed deviation of normal and abnormal behaviours from the mould powder due to the pickup of oxides of Al, Mn, and Ti. The SEM analyses of raw mould powder showed different granular particle sizes while pores and glassy/crystalline structure were seen for normal and abnormal behaviour at casting. CaF2, CaSiO3, and Na2CaSi3O9 were revealed as the mineralogical phases. There was a modified crystalline phase present in the abnormal behaviours at casting due to pickup of other oxides.