ESR Processing of a New HighPressureDieCasting Steel

Schmiedewerke Groditz (SWG) is among the global players of special re-melted steel alloys production. Within the RFCS project n⁰ 751360 HPDCSTEEL (High Pressure Die Casting Steel) a new ESR steel grade has been developed. At SWG the steel grade was produced using an open ESR unit. During re-melting the master alloy has been continuously added into the liquid slag bath and a modified ESR ingot of 20t has been manufactured. The ESR process was modified to increase the quality and performance of the steel, maintaining a constant distribution of synthetic carbides into the obtained ingot. A master alloy was placed on the bottom of the ESR machine before starting with the pre-charge. Furthermore, during re-melting the master alloy has been fed continuously using an installed balance system. No problems in the steel processing were detected, with a standard ESR melting and permanent feeding of the new alloy. The chemical composition of the alloy and of the liquid ESR slag was measured several times during the re-melting process, to determine if the master alloy was correctly dissolved in the melt.