Effects of Compositional Variability Due to the Presence of Residual Elements on Steel Processing and Properties

This industry-driven research focuses on the increased compositional variability present in steel alloy grades due to increased recycled steel content (as well as increased variability in the recycled steel composition) and the high number of residual elements that can remain after steel is manufactured in electric arc furnaces (EAF). Compositional variability and the presence of some residuals (e.g., Ti, Nb, V, Cr, Sn, Cu, Ni, Al, N) can cause complications for many thermomechanical processing (TMP) methods. The complications arise from steel not performing as expected when small composition changes result in significant property changes. Such variability and complications can lead to a distrust of steel sources with higher recycled steel content. The preliminary research presented here considers expected vs actual phase transformations and the resulting properties during TMP with particular focus on the effects of the presence and concentration of key residual elements.