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Investigation into Surface Defects Arising in Hot-Rolled SUP 11A Grade Spring Billets

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Abstract

Silicomanganese grade billets are the most commonly used steels for manufacture of automobile leaf springs. However, Cr-Mn-B grade steel known by trade name of SUP 11A grade is replacing the conventional silicomanganese grades such as 60Si7 or 65Si7 steels because it has become a competitive alternative in the market. Three heats of SUP11A grade spring steel were made through BOF-VAD-CC route and continuously cast into 125 × 125 mm billets. Some of the billets contained blowholes and piping. Rolling of selected billets into 85 × 15 mm flats revealed occasional slivers, seams, and a few shallow hairline surface cracks. A detailed metallurgical investigation was carried out to understand the genesis of these defects. A pearlite-free ferritic microstructure near the cracks combined with the presence of dispersed inclusions resulting from internal oxidation in the vicinity of cracks and the presence of scales within the shallow discontinuous short-length longitudinal cracks indicated that these defects resulted from pre-existing subsurface blowholes lying within 1 mm of billet surface. Reduction of the gas content of liquid steel in the mold, optimization of electromagnetic stirring (EMS) current, and control of superheat are some of the broad measures identified to improve the cast quality of SUP 11A spring steel billets and minimize the rejection of rolled flats.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the management of RDCIS and DSP for encouragement and support. Invaluable help rendered by Mr. K. Patwari, Mr. B.B. Reddy, and Mr. S.R. Sarkar during heat making and casting is acknowledged. Authors are thankful to Mr. C.B. Sinha and Dr. S.S. Dutta for coordination with plant and active support during different stages of planning, production, and dispatch. Fruitful technical discussions with Dr. Niladri Sen and Dr. C.D. Singh is acknowledged with pleasure. Keen interest and support provided by Dr. S.K. Chaudhuri, GM(P), RDCIS, and Sri A. Bhattacharyya, retired GM(RCL), DSP are gratefully acknowledged. We are indebted to application engineers, Sri S. Bhattacharyya, Sri N.K. Mehta, and Sri G.K. Sodani for their painstaking technical help during performance trials. Help received from Sri R.R. Storte, Sri Abhishekh Sinha, and Smt. Mausumi Bhattacharyya in coordinating the trials at customers’ end is acknowledged with pleasure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RDCIS, SAIL, Ranchi, 834 002, India

    Santosh Kumar, Vinod Kumar & Ramen Datta

  2. RDCIS Plant Centre, DSP, Durgapur, India

    R. K. Nandi

  3. Durgapur Steel Plant, Durpaur, India

    T. S. Suresh

Authors
  1. Santosh Kumar
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  2. Vinod Kumar
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  3. R. K. Nandi
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  4. T. S. Suresh
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  5. Ramen Datta
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Correspondence to Santosh Kumar.

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Kumar, S., Kumar, V., Nandi, R.K. et al. Investigation into Surface Defects Arising in Hot-Rolled SUP 11A Grade Spring Billets. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 8, 492–497 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-008-9169-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-008-9169-y

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