Effect of electromagnetic stirring on inclusions in 304 stainless steel electroslag ingot

Based the self designed electroslag remelting furnace with electromagnetic stirring, the effect of external magnetic field on the number, size and type of inclusions in 304 stainless steel electroslag ingot was analyzed in detail. The content of oxygen and nitrogen in electroslag ingot was analyzed by ONH analyzer, and the morphology and element distribution of inclusions were observed by SEM. Finally, the ASPEX was used to analyse the size, number and type of inclusions. The results show that the oxygen content in electroslag ingot increases from 23.7×10-6 in consumable electrode to 64.70×10-6 whether magnetic field is applied or not, and the oxygen content increases to 67.4×10-6 at most from 23.7×10-6 in the electrode. But the nitrogen content in electroslag ingot decreased slightly to 659.3×10-6 from 675.5×10-6 in the electrode. The magnetic field has almost no effect on the type of inclusions, which mainly includes Al2O3, MnS-Al2O3, Al-Si-O, Al-Ca-O, Al-Si-Ca-O, Al-Mg-O and other inclusions. After the magnetic field is applied, the amount of large inclusions in electroslag ingot decreases, but the total number of inclusions increases when the magnetic induction intensity is small. When the magnetic induction intensity is 10 mT, the number of inclusions increases by 42.60%, but the maximum size of the inclusions decreases.