The Use of Simulation in Laboratory Scale in the Field of Process Simulation

For development and optimisation of steel grades or of steel production processes information about the evolution of steel microstructure during the production process is required. For this investigation a lot of steel samples of different production stages are necessary. Taking these samples in situ, however, needs great expenses. In order to reduce the cost, simulation in the laboratory scale is to be used. Here, the representative microstructures of steel can be produced and analysed comparatively easily. This paper gives an example to show the use of the laboratory simulation for fitting a computer model for Ti‐Nb‐carbonitride precipitation kinetics. It is also shown in this report which enormous effort is necessary to get information when the objects of investigation are such extremely fine particles. If a TEM is used, with particles below 10 nm the resolution range of the device is reached. Other methods, like chemical isolation, fail. The only chance is, as demonstrated here, to use the qualitative and semi‐quantitative results from the TEM investigation. This is a successful strategy for the development of a precipitation kinetics model for very fine particles.