Effect of atmospheric pressure on physical parameters of steels and solidification conditions during PESR process: a review

The pressurized electroslag remelting (PESR) process has a remarkable impact on manufacturing high nitrogen steels, which can alter the physical parameters of steels and solidification conditions at different atmospheric pressures. The principle and applications of the PESR process are reviewed. The effect of atmospheric pressure, including Gibbs free energy, nitrogen solubility, melting point, viscosity, diffusion coefficient, partition coefficient, and nucleation rate, is explicitly expressed by empirical knowledge and quantified by thermodynamic relationships. The variation of interfacial heat transfer coefficient is discussed at different atmospheric pressures. Furthermore, the effect of atmospheric pressure on physical parameters of steels and solidification conditions during the PESR process is still in their embryonic research stage and it is important to do further study in this research field. Finally, a general concluding remark and suggestions for future development are proposed.