Influence of residuals on the metallurgical features of low carbon steel grades

The increased recycling of scrap leads in conventional steels to an increased content of undesirable trace elements. When scrap is used for steel production, the influence of precipitate‐forming or solid solution hardening trace elements in particular on the process and use properties has to be taken into account. The influence exerted by the elements niobium, titanium, chromium and molybdenum has been studied on the example of unalloyed deep drawing steels which are mainly used for the manufacture of automobiles. The production process – beginning with continuous casting, through hot rolling, cold rolling down to annealing – was simulated experimentally in laboratory equipment, and in parallel with a continuous casting simulator, forming dilatometer and high temperature conductimeter. Light‐optical microscopy and the EBSP measurements were used to characterise the pertaining microstructures. The mechanical final characteristics were determined in tensile tests. The results relating to continuous casting illustrate the influence of trace elements on precipitation, cracking, hot ductility and the phase transition from austenite in ferrite. The work softening during the hot rolling depends on the nature and the precipitation state of the foreign elements. The interplay of coiling temperature, precipitation and annealing temperature influences the softening during the annealing after the cold rolling. It could be shown that a large part of this takes place during the recovery. The analysed trace elements influence the final characteristics via hardening and grain sizes.