Effects of electroslag remelting process and Y on the inclusions and mechanical properties of the CLAM steel

Y-containing CLAM steels were melted via vacuum induction melting and electroslag remelting. In this study, the evolution, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the alloy inclusions (ESR-1 (0 wt.% Y), ESR-2 (0.016 wt.% Y) and ESR-3 (0.042 wt.% Y)) were investigated. Further, the number of inclusions in ESRed steel was observed to obviously decrease, and the distributions were more uniform. The fine Y-Al-O inclusions (1-2 ㎛) were the main inclusions in ESR-2. The addition of Y affected the prior austenite grain size (PAGZ), increasing the tensile strength at test temperature. Low ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) was obtained because of the fine PAGZ and dispersive inclusions. For the ESRed CLAM steel with 0.016 wt.% Y, the yield strengths were 621 MPa at 20 ℃ and 354 MPa at 600 ℃ in air. Further, the uniform elongation and elongation of the ESR-2 alloy were 5.5% and 20.1% at 20 ℃, respectively. Meanwhile, the DBTT tested using full-size Charpy impact specimen (55 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm) was reduced to -83 ℃.