The Effects of ZrO₂, Y₂O₃ and Sc₂O₃ on the Properties of Mould Fluxes for High Manganese High Aluminum Steels

The effects of ZrO₂, Y₂O₃ and Sc₂O₃, which are transition metal oxides, on the melting temperature, viscosity at 1300 °C, and break temperature of three mold fluxes (two weak-reactive type and one non-reactive type) designed for the high manganese and high aluminum steels, and one another conventional CaO-SiO₂ based mold flux is studied. The results indicate that the melting temperature and viscosity increases slightly, and the break temperature increases dramatically with the addition of ZrO₂, Y₂O₃ and Sc₂O₃ content in the conventional CaO-SiO₂ based mold flux system. While, the addition of ZrO₂, Y₂O₃ and Sc₂O₃ in the weak-reactive or non-reactive mold flux systems has a negligible influence on the melting temperature, viscosity and break temperature, suggesting that these transition metal oxides are possible to regulate radiation heat transfer without changing the basic properties of mold fluxes.