Inoculation of Welding Bath of Low-Carbon Steel with Ultrafine Refractory Components

This article presents the study of the effect of ultrafine titanium monocarbide (TiC) powder on the formation of the deposited metal structure. The effective particle size of the powder for the welding bath inoculation of low-carbon and low-alloy steels should be at least 600–700 nm (0.6–0.7 μm). The use of an inoculator powder with a more dispersed fraction was inappropriate from thermodynamic and economic points of view. With the increase in the content of ultrafine TiC powder in the coating of welding electrodes (0%–10%), the crystallites in the deposited metal decreased in size by 8–9 times, and they acquired a more equilibrium state (the shape factor increased by two times). The addition of various amounts of TiC powder to the melt of the welding bath did not result in a noticeable hardening of the deposited metal (Vickers hardness: 188–197 HV ).