Cleanliness Control of High Nitrogen Stainless Bearing Steel by Vacuum Carbon Deoxidation in a PVIM Furnace

High cleanliness is a crucial factor determining the service performance of bearing steel. Considering the strong deoxidation ability of carbon under vacuum, vacuum carbon deoxidation was adopted in the cleanliness control of high nitrogen stainless bearing steel. In this paper, a mathematical model for vacuum carbon deoxidation during pressure/vacuum induction melting (PVIM) was proposed considering the occurrence of carbon–oxygen reaction at the free surface of molten pool and at the interface between CO bubbles and molten steel as well as crucible decomposition. The effect of electromagnetic stirring on the mass transfer of oxygen was analyzed using the finite element numerical method and the effect of CO bubbles on the deoxidation process was also considered. The influence of pressure, temperature and initial carbon content on deoxidization was studied and experimentally verified. The results indicated that the predicted variation of oxygen content in molten steel with time agreed well with the experimental results. Electromagnetic stirring effectively promoted the mass transfer of oxygen in molten steel and the carbon–oxygen reaction at free surface of molten pool was the main pathway for deoxidization. The pressure, temperature and initial carbon content influenced the vacuum carbon deoxidation process by affecting the carbon–oxygen reaction rate, crucible decomposition and mass transfer coefficient of oxygen. Finally, optimum melting parameters were recommended.