On Restricting Aspects in the Production of Nonmagnetic Cr‐Mn‐N‐alloyed Steels

Cr‐Mn steel grades with high nitrogen contents are becoming increasingly important in the field of austenitic stainless steels. Industrial production facilities allow to use two different strategies to reach a high nitrogen content. The first involves taking advantage of the pressurised‐electroslag remelting process, which is operated at elevated nitrogen partial pressure; the second consists of adding elements which increase the nitrogen solubility of the melt so that high nitrogen contents can be achieved at atmospheric pressure. This paper focuses on nitrogen solubility and austenite stability. These have been observed as important and in some cases restricting for the successful implementation and production of high alloyed Cr‐Mn austenitic steels. The precondition for a stable austenitic microstructure can be predicted with the help of equations using chromium and nickel equivalents. Different formulae were tested and their results compared to the microstructure of the alloys. The nitrogen solubility in the melt is particularly important for the steel grades cast under atmospheric conditions. It has been found feasible to produce steel grades up to 0.9 mass percent nitrogen at atmospheric pressure on an industrial scale. Several theoretical approaches for calculating the nitrogen solubility in the melt were tested for atmospheric conditions and compared to the chemical analyses of conventionally cast Cr‐Mn steel grades.