Effect of cerium on the primary carbides and inclusions in electroslag remelted M35 high speed steel

To restrain the formation of primary carbides in M35 high speed steel, the present work investigated the effect of cerium on the microstructure, primary carbides and inclusions in electroslag remelted M35 high speed steel based on experimental characterizations and thermodynamic calculations. The primary carbides in M35 high speed steel are M2C-type carbides with orthorhombic crystal structure and MC-type carbides with FCC crystal structure. M2C-type carbides are the dominant carbides, whose precipitation is prior to the MC-type carbides. With adding cerium content to 0.0230wt%, the evolutionary process of inclusions is: MgO∙Al2O3→Ce2O3, CeAlO3 and Ce2O2S→Ce2O3, Ce2O2S and Ce2O3 core surrounded by Ce–As–P layer. Adding cerium content from 0 to 0.0230wt% causes the secondary dendrite arm spacing to decrease from 36.8 μm to 29.4 μm, as the heterogeneous nucleation of Ce2O3, Ce2O2S and CeAlO3 inclusions, as well as the effect of dissolved cerium including the increase in the constitutional undercooling and the drag on the migration of liquid–solid interface. Ce2O3, Ce2O2S and CeAlO3 are the less effective heterogeneous nucleation cores for M2C-type and MC-type primary carbides precipitation than MgO∙Al2O3 inclusions, which is conducive to the decrease in the area fraction of primary carbides with adding 0.0067wt% cerium. Further increasing cerium content to 0.0230wt%, the formation of Ce–As–P inclusions surrounding Ce2O3 promotes the precipitation of M2C-type primary carbides, causing the increase in the area fraction of primary carbides.