Equilibrium Model of Precipitation in Microalloyed Steels

The formation of precipitates during thermal processing of microalloyed steels greatly influences their mechanical properties. Precipitation behavior varies with steel composition and temperature history and can lead to beneficial grain refinement or detrimental transverse surface cracks. This work presents an efficient computational model of equilibrium precipitation of oxides, sulfides, nitrides, and carbides in steels, based on satisfying solubility limits including Wagner interaction between elements, mutual solubility between precipitates, and mass conservation of alloying elements. The model predicts the compositions and amounts of stable precipitates for multicomponent microalloyed steels in liquid, ferrite, and austenite phases at any temperature. The model is first validated by comparing with analytical solutions of simple cases, predictions using the commercial package JMat-PRO, and previous experimental observations. Then it is applied to track the evolution of precipitate amounts during continuous casting of two commercial steels (1004 LCAK and 1006Nb HSLA) at two different casting speeds. This model is easy to modify to incorporate other precipitates, or new thermodynamic data, and is a useful tool for equilibrium precipitation analysis.