In the doctoral thesis, we investigated the influence of rare earth element (REM) addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of 50CrMoV13-1 steel. In the literature overview, we described the evolution of exogenic and endogenic non-metallic inclusions, modification of non-metallic inclusions and reactions of rare earth elements with oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus and antimony.
During the experimental work, we first investigated the influence of rare earth elements additions on the morphology and chemical composition of the non-metallic inclusions. We found that rare earth oxides, sulfides and oxysulfides are formed. They are much more thermodynamically stable than aluminium, silicon, manganese, magnesium oxides and manganese sulfides. REM inclusions have a big influence on the mechanical properties and the microstructure of steel.
In the second part, we investigated the reactions between antimony, phosphorus and rare earth elements. We found out that new inclusions CeLa(Sb) and CeP are formed and that they increase the mechanical properties of the steel at room temperature and at -20 °C. The grain size is decreased and the share of ductile fracture is increased when REMs are added.
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