Development and prospect of secondary refining technology for ultra pure ferritic stainless steel

Ultra pure ferritic stainless steel has more advantages in the performance than the ordinary ferritic stainless steel because of ultra low carbon and nitrogen content,such as corrosion resistance,toughness and weldability,etc.Such steel has therefore been applied in many fields,leading to the very rapid development over the past 40 years.This study focuses on the secondary refining process which is the most important step of the whole steelmaking process for the ultra pure ferritic stainless.Firstly,some difficulties of the secondary refining process are described,including the high purification in terms of both carbon and nitrogen contents, high efficient and stable control.Secondly,the development and progress of the secondary refining technology for ultra pure ferritic stainless is introduced in terms of the refining equipments,metallurgical process and assistant technologies.Finally,the prospect was made for the development of secondary refining process for ultra pure ferritic stainless in the future.