Using the exact muffin-tin orbital (EMTO) method in combination with the coherent potential approximation (CPA), we studied the influence of alloying elements Al, V, Zr, Tc, Re and Ir on the phase stability, lattice parameters, densities, and elastic properties of NbMoTaWMx (M = Al, V, Zr, Tc, Re, Ir; 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) refractory high entropy alloys. The predicted lattice parameter and elastic parameters agree with the available experimental and theoretical data. We calculated the atomic size difference (δ), the valence electron concentration (VEC) and the total energy of face-centered cubic (fcc), body-centered cubic (bcc) and hexagonal closed-pack (hcp) structures. We found that all studied NbMoTaWMx (M = Al, V, Zr, Tc, Re, Ir; 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) systems have the bcc structure. We showed that Al and Ir decrease the stability of the bcc structure and Zr significantly enlarges the lattice parameter of the host. Vanadium increases the ductility of NbMoTaW system. On the other hand, Al and Ir have strongly non-linear effect on the ductility, with clear minimum at x = 0.55. The present results provide consistent theoretical data and call for experimental investigation for these alloys.

Using the Exact Muffin-Tin Orbitals method within the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof exchange-correlation approximation for solids and solid surfaces (PBEso1), we study the single crystal elastic constants of 4d transition metals (atomic number Z between 39 and 47) and their binary alloys in the body centered cubic (bcc) and face centered cubic (fcc) structures. Alloys between the first neighbors Z(Z + 1) and between the second neighbors Z(Z + 2) are considered. The lattice constants, bulk moduli and elastic constants are found in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. It is shown that the correlation between the relative tetragonal shear elastic constant C-fcc'-2C(bcc)' and the structural energy difference between the fcc and bcc lattices Delta E is superior to the previously considered models. For a given crystal structure, the equiatomic Z(Z + 2) alloys turn out to have similar structural and elastic properties as the pure elements with atomic number (Z + 1). Furthermore, alloys with composition Z(1-x)(Z + 2)(x) possess similar properties as Z(1-2x)(Z + 1)(2x). The present theoretical data on the structural and the elastic properties of 4d transition metal alloys provides consistent input for coarse scale modeling of material properties.

The process optimization of continuous annealing furnace, RHF 125, for recrystallization annealing of two steel grades, Sandvik 13C26 and Sandvik 20C has been carried out. To recreate the continuous annealing process carried out in the roller hearth furnace in the industry, samples with different cold reduction rates were chosen from ongoing production lines. An experimental heat treatment model was chosen by the ‘Design of Experiments’ approach from MODDE (from U-Metrics). The annealing temperature was chosen below the austenitization temperature for both steel grades and soaking time of 30 seconds to 240 seconds were chosen. Microscopic estimation of fraction recrystallized was performed with the help of Electron Back Scattered Diffraction, accompanied by mechanical testing methods to measure the hardness and yield strength of the steel strips. The experimental output was used to create a model to correlate between the different cold reduction rates and annealing parameters to achieve a higher degree of recrystallization along with desirable mechanical properties. Also, a modified Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolomogrov model, based on hardness values, to determine the transformation kinetics by tracking the progress of recrystallization was developed. The model was verified with EBSD measurements for Sandvik 13C26 strip steels. For 20C, inhomogeneous recrystallization was observed, thus limiting the model’s adaptability to steels which exhibit homogeneous recrystallization behavior and negligible change in precipitation and/or coarsening of secondary phases.

In this work hypoeutectic lamellar graphite iron alloyed with seven different levels of molybdenum was studied in order to characterize its thermal and mechanical properties. Several tests were conducted and experimental data was collected from, laser flash (LFA), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), dilatometer and tensile test.

Micrographs taken from the polished specimens were captured and studied through quantitative measurements of several parameters, e.g. graphite fraction, shape, form. Afterward, the same samples were colour etched with picric acid in order to perform a qualitative analysis of the matrix.

It was concluded from the data collected, that molybdenum has a significant influence in the UTS. Such influence, increases the UTS strongly with the amount of molybdenum. It was also found that the pearlitic matrix changes into ausferrite matrix, for the 0.96% of molybdenum, but ausferrite it is detected from 0.65% of molybdenum onwards. Regarding thermal properties, molybdenum does not have noticeable effect but it is possible to see a clear worsen in the conductivity in the specimen, which has ausferrite as matrix.

Graphite does not seem to have a clear behavior with the different concentration of molybdenum but in the other hand, the matrix shows clear differences as it was mention before.

During solid state reaction, it was detected a clear influence of molybdenum additions, where the latent heat and the volumetric change were measured during the eutectoid reaction and show a decreasing behavior for molybdenum contents above 0.65%.

Interfacial properties of two brush-with-anchor mucins, C-P55 and C-PSLex, have been investigated at the aqueous solution/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) interface. Both are recombinant mucin-type fusion proteins, produced by fusing the glycosylated mucin part of P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSLG-1) to the Fc part of a mouse immunoglobulin in two different cells. They are mainly expressed as dimers upon production. Analysis of the O-glycans shows that the C-PSLex mucin has the longer and more branched side chains, but C-P55 has slightly higher sialic acid content. The adsorption of the mucins to PMMA surfaces was studied by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation. The sensed mass, including the adsorbed mucin and water trapped in the layer, was found to be similar for these two mucin layers. Atomic force microscopy with colloidal probe was employed to study surface and friction forces between mucin-coated PMMA surfaces. Purely repulsive forces of steric origin were observed between mucin layers on compression, whereas a small adhesion was detected between both mucin layers on decompression. This was attributed to chain entanglement. The friction force between C-PSLex-coated PMMA is lower than that between C-P55-coated PMMA. at low loads, but vice versa at high loads. We discuss our results in terms of the differences in the glycosylation composition of these two mucins.

A highly parallelized mesoscale solidification model based on a cellular automaton method was coupled with a macroscale process model to predict grain structure during directional solidification. The macroscale thermal model and a nucleation parameter (maximum nucleation density) for René N500 were verified and calibrated using temperature profiles obtained via thermocouples in step-geometry castings and grain structures analyzed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), respectively. The calibrated model was then applied to a laboratory-scale turbine blade to predict its grain structures. The predicted grain sizes agreed with experimental measurements under different casting conditions. The established bulk nucleation parameter based on the simple geometry can be directly transferred to complex geometries. Grain calculations without accurate estimations of nucleation on the chill plate can still provide reasonably good predictions. Overall, a viable path to calibrate model inputs for grain structure models based on simple geometry, where faster iterations can be achieved, is demonstrated.

During fusion-based metal additive manufacturing, there is an inherent directionality in heat transfer, which leads to columnar grain growth. This may result in cracking and anisotropic mechanical properties in many alloy systems. Therefore, it is important to study the conditions under which columnar-to-equiaxed transition in grain structure occurs. The grain morphology is determined by several factors such as process conditions, local alloy composition, and number density of nucleating sites. In the present work, a model for simulating columnar-to-equiaxed transition is formulated, considering nucleating site size distribution, rapid solidification and constitutional undercooling in multicomponent alloys. Furthermore, the model is coupled with multicomponent Calphad-based thermodynamic and diffusion mobility descriptions. It is demonstrated that including the above aspects is important in accurately predicting the columnar-to-equiaxed transition by comparing with experimental data for an additively manufactured TiB2-reinforced AlSi10Mg alloy. The framework developed in this work may be used to predict columnar-to-equiaxed transition in additively manufactured technical alloys consisting of multiple elements.

The paper presents an investigation regarding the potential and the readiness for implementing performance indicators and performance measurement systems of the process planning work for metal working companies. The paper is based on a questionnaire survey distributed to process planners in the Swedish metal working industry. The main outcome of the investigation is a foundation for understanding the implementation of performance measures of the process planning work for CNC machining. The survey revealed a few strengths and short comings in the studied companies.

The use of recommended S-N curves, presented in current literature, to analyse and determine the fatigue life of a part is common practice in, inter alia, the construction industry.However, the recommended S-N curves are generally created for larger components used in mainly the construction industry. Hence, the use of S-N curves for the evaluation of smaller parts, may result in over-dimensioning of such parts. For this reason, evaluation and designing of smaller parts could benefit from the development of an in house S-N curve specific for the part.

The purpose of this thesis is to generate and validate an in-house method for creating a S-N curve, for a specific part to be compared with recommended S-N curves in the literature. The specific part used for the generating of the method is a welded steel joint with the geometry of two steel pipes, welded together in a t-formation and which has been provided by Thule AB for the purpose of the thesis.

The method presented uses the results from 1) physical fatigue tests using a fatigue testing machine and 2) static FEA to derive a S-N curve for the specific part using the least squares method. A fatigue testing rig enables the gathering of data of the number of cycles to failure when the part is subject to a given cyclic load. The rig uses pneumatics to control the forces applied onto the part with the use of a cylinder. Furthermore, the fatigue testing rig was designed to be controlled by the applied force, meaning, that the rig ensured a homogeneous load cycle by measuring the force from a load cell and alternating the direction of the cylinder with an electrically controlled pressure valve. The performance of static FEA evaluations aim at locating stresses in the part. For this thesis the stresses were evaluated using the hot spot method due to the part's welded geometry.

The data gathered from the physical fatigue tests and the static FEA evaluations are subsequently combined deriving S-N curves applicable to the part.

From the fatigue tests and FEA evaluations for the t-shaped welded steel part, four S-N curves were derived of which two curves showed the results of a linear fitted curve whereas the other curves used the recommended slope of $-1/3$. The results showed that the S-N curves derived, using a set slope, resulted in similar curves to the recommended S-N curve provided by the literature. However, the linear fitted S-N curve showed that the part, according to the S-N curve, had a higher fatigue resistance than recommended.

 Due to limitations in the thesis work, the S-N curves derived within the framework of this thesis should be regarded as theoretical and have been strictly used to identify whether the method generated is applicable for deriving of S-N curves.

The aim of a burden calculation in the blast furnace process is to compute the amounts of burden materials to be charged for obtaining desired hot-metal and slag composition. Burden calculations are normally based on trial-and-error instead of optimisation. In this study, the use of an optimisation model for a typical blast furnace operation is presented. The yield factors of some components, such as Mn, Si, S, P and V, used in the model have been determined. The more common distribution coefficients have also been studied. Both the yield factor and distribution coefficient values were generally good and showed stable behaviour for repeated periods under similar operational conditions. In this study, the model was found to be an excellent tool for determining burden material amounts and hot-metal and slag compositions for a blast furnace under steady and normal operation conditions. Using an optimising burden calculation model is time efficient, because it demands only 1 calculation procedure instead of a couple calculations as in the case with a trial-and-error method.

This paper investigates the distribution of elements between slag and hot metal from a blast furnace through calculation of distribution coefficients from actual production data. First, samples of slag and hot metal tapped from a commercial blast furnace were taken continually at 10-minute intervals for a production period of 68 hours. Distribution coefficients of manganese, silicon, sulphur and vanadium were then calculated from the results of the sample analyses. A major conclusion drawn from examination of the results was that the behaviour of the studied elements was as could be expected when approaching the equilibrium reactions from thermodynamic theory. The distributions of the elements in the slag-metal system showed clear tendencies which did not appear to be influenced by the operational conditions of the furnace. For example, for manganese, vanadium and sulphur, it was found that a higher basicity led to a decreased distribution coefficient L-Mn and L-V, but an increased L-S, which is according to theory. Another observed relationship was that slag basicity increased with an increased carbon content in the hot metal, which indicated that SiO2 was reduced to [Si] when the oxygen potential decreased. Furthermore, it was found that sulphur and silica behaviour likened that of acidic slag components, while the manganese oxide and vanadium oxide behaviour was similar to that of basic slag components.

To determine the quality of the hot metal and the thermal conditions inside the blast furnace, the composition of the hot metal and slag must be known. Obtaining representative metal and slag samples during tapping is thus highly important to blast furnace operation. The study covered in the present report focused on hot metal and slag composition variation during tapping from a commercial blast furnace. From the results, optimal sampling time points for obtaining elemental concentrations that can be taken as representative for the whole tapping sequence were identified. It was furthermore concluded, that the reliability of hot metal composition data is significantly improved by averaging elemental concentrations determined from two samples, each taken at a particular time point. One sampling, however, was found to be adequate for slag. Results from the study also showed a fairly strong correlation between amounts of silicon and carbon, sulphur and carbon, and silicon and sulphur in the hot metal, while a weaker correlation between hot metal temperature and each of these elements was observed.

Ore-based steelmaking generates various residues including dust, sludges, scales and slags. Internal and external recycling has allowed for 68-90 % of the dust, sludges and scales to be recycled. However, several residues are landfilled despite containing elements valuable as raw material in the production of steel. One such residue is the blast furnace (BF) sludge which has a chemical composition dominated by iron and carbon. In 2008, the annual worldwide landfilling of BF sludge was estimated to 8 million metric tons in dry weight. Furthermore, as the iron production via the BF route has increased significantly since 2008, the landfilling of BF sludge could be even higher as of today. Thus, the potential to reclaim valuable iron and carbon while improving the raw material efficiency is substantial.

Traditionally, in-plant recycling of residues generated in the integrated steel plant is conducted via the sinter or, in the case of pellet-based BFs, via cold-bonded briquettes and injection in the BF tuyeres. The challenges in recycling BF sludge via these routes are the fine particle size distribution, the high water content and the zinc content. Of these challenges, the latter is the main concern as too high zinc loads in the BF lead to increased reductant rates, reduced lining life of carbon-based bricks and scaffold formation, which may disturb the process. The challenge regarding zinc has previously been addressed by pretreating the sludge, generating a low-zinc and high-zinc fraction where the former has been recycled to the BF via the sinter or cold-bonded pellets. Although pretreatment and recycling of the low-zinc fraction have been achieved in industrial scale, the reported sludges are generally coarse in size and high in zinc. Furthermore, recycling of pretreated BF sludge to the BF utilizing cold-bonded briquettes has not been reported and the internal recycling of the high-zinc fraction has not been considered.

In the present thesis, newly produced BF sludge with a fine particle size distribution and low zinc content was characterized finding that a majority of the zinc was present in weak acid soluble phases and that the finest fraction of the sludge carried most of the zinc. Based on these findings, the BF sludge was pretreated using sulfuric acid leaching, hydrocycloning and tornado treatment, respectively. Sulfuric acid leaching was the most effective method in selectively separating zinc from the iron, carbon and solids. However, both hydrocycloning and tornado treatment were successful in generating a fraction low in zinc.

The low-zinc fraction of the tornado-treated BF sludge was incorporated in cold-bonded briquettes and tested for strength, swelling and intrinsic reducibility. Furthermore, the briquettes were charged as basket samples in the LKAB Experimental Blast Furnace (EBF) in order to study the behavior in actual BF conditions. The results suggested that the low-zinc fraction of the BF sludge could be added to the briquettes without negatively affecting the performance of the briquettes in the BF. The results were confirmed in industrial-scale trials where non-treated BF sludge was added to cold-bonded briquettes in an amount that would facilitate complete recycling of the low-zinc fraction. Charging these briquettes to the BF did not induce any negative effects on the process or the hot metal (HM) quality.

The high-zinc fraction of the tornado-treated BF sludge was added in self-reducing cold-bonded agglomerates and studied in technical-scale smelting reduction experiments aiming at recycling to the HM desulfurization plant. The experiments suggested that melt-in problems could be expected when using either briquettes or pellets. Nonetheless, industrial-scale trials were performed aiming to study the feasibility of recycling cold-bonded briquettes to both the HM desulfurization plant and basic oxygen furnace (BOF). These trials suggested that a substantial amount could be recycled without affecting the final quality of the steel. However, additional experiments were identified to be required in order to enable 100 % recycling of the high-zinc fraction of the tornado-treated BF sludge.

Based on the results from the experimental work, a holistic concept to completely recycle the BF sludge within the integrated steel plant was suggested.

Ore-based steelmaking generates a variety of residues including dusts, sludges and slags. Recycling of these residues within the process or via other applications is essential for sustainable production from both environmental and economic aspects. In blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, there are generally two residues leaving the gas cleaning equipment; namely, BF dust and BF sludge. Traditionally, the dust is recycled via the sinter or, in the case of pellet based BF, via cold bonded agglomerates and injection. As the main output of zinc from the BF is the top gas, the sludge has to be dezinced prior to recycling to prevent accumulation of zinc in the furnace. Although dezincing of BF sludge has been successfully accomplished using e.g., hydrocycloning, the studied sludges are generally coarse sized and high in zinc. Furthermore, information is lacking regarding the efficiency of separation of different hydrocyclone setups. In the present work, hydrocycloning of a fine sludge, with low zinc content, generated by a pellet based BF has been studied. The gas cleaning equipment used to produce the sludge was running a primary aerocyclone and a scrubber. A characterization of the sludge has been conducted together with an evaluation of the separation efficiency of the hydrocyclone in order to assess the hydrocyclone performance and limitations. Furthermore, the dezincing using the hydrocyclone has been compared to that of sulfuric acid leaching. The results suggest that 51 to 93% of the sludge can be recycled depending on the demand on zinc removal and the chosen dezincing route.

The on-site sinter plants of the Swedish ore based steel industry are all closed. Instead of using sinter, the blast furnaces (BF) operate on iron ore pellets and the major part of the recycling of in-plant residues is realized via cold bonded briquettes charged to the BF. Cost of raw materials and energy continuously drives the work towards an increased recycling of in plant residues. The major part of the zinc entering the BF leaves through the top gas ending up in the BF dust and sludge. The recycling of all the BF dust back to the BF leaves the BF sludge as the main bleed of zinc out of the system. In order to utilize the iron and carbon content of the sludge, means to remove zinc is required prior to recycling via the briquette. In the present work, blast furnace sludge has been characterized. Using the characterization as standpoint, different operations for zinc removal was suggested and studied in laboratory scale. Zinc was successfully removed using a hydrometallurgical and physical separation route, respectively. A successful dezincing operation would enable the recycling of the sludge. This would improve the material- and energy efficiency and substantially decrease the amount of sludge being landfilled.

In the present work, a full factorial design of experiments with three factors was performed studying the evaporation of potassium (K) from synthetic blast furnace (BF) slag. The experiments showed that slag temperature and B2 basicity (%CaO/%SiO₂) had the greatest effect on the evaporation kinetics, while the effect of the MgO content was comparatively less. The regression model developed based on the experimental design could describe the evaporation of K from actual BF slags fairly well, provided that they were within the experimental matrix of the design of experiments.

Increased in-plant recycling and lower quality raw material in terms of alkali content drive the alkali load in the blast furnace (BF) to higher levels. Excessive load of alkalis, primarily potassium, has several negative effects on the BF operation, which necessitates means to control the removal of potassium from the BF. One method to improve the removal is by increasing the potassium retention in the slag, which is controlled by the evaporation kinetics of potassium. Although several authors have studied factors affecting the evaporation rate, none of these studies have quantitatively investigated the effect of these parameters and attempted to relate these effects to slags from the industry. In the present work, a full-factorial design of experiments with three factors (B2 basicity, MgO content, and temperature) was performed, studying the evaporation of potassium from synthetic BF slag. The results suggested that multiple linear regression is suitable to describe the evaporation kinetics of potassium within the boundaries of the design of experiments. However, extrapolating to industrial slags of different compositions and additional slag components is best performed utilizing the corrected optical basicity. The corrected optical basicity showed a linear relation to the evaporation kinetics of potassium, which was related to the correlation between diffusivity and corrected optical basicity.

Ore-based steelmaking generates a variety of residues and recycling of these within the existing process or via other applications is essential for sustainable production from mainly  environmental aspects. In blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, the gas-cleaning equipment recovers the particles in the off-gas as BF dust and sludge. Traditionally, the dry dust is recycled back to the BF. In order to recycle the BF sludge together with the dust, the sludge has to be upgraded, removing zinc. The literature reports cases of recycling BF dust and the low-zinc fraction of upgraded BF sludge to the BF. However, research towards recycling of the high-zinc fraction of BF sludge within the ore-based steel plant is limited. In the present paper, the high-zinc fraction of tornado-treated BF sludge was incorporated in self-reducing cold-bonded agglomerates. The agglomerates were subjected to smelting reduction experiments aiming to study the feasibility of recycling the in-plant residues to the desulphurization plant. Difficulties in the melt-in of the agglomerates suggested that cold-bonded pellets were more suitable for recycling than the briquettes. However, full-scale trials suggested that cold-bonded briquettes can be used to recycle in-plant residues to the desulphurization plant without affecting the desulphurization process and final steel quality.

In ore-based steelmaking, blast furnace (BF) dust is generally recycled to the BF via the sinter or cold-bonded briquettes and injection. In order to recycle the BF sludge to the BF, the sludge has to be upgraded, removing zinc. The literature reports cases of recycling the low-zinc fraction of upgraded BF sludge to the BF. However, research towards recycling of the high-zinc fraction of BF sludge within the ore-based steel plant is limited. In the present paper, the high-zinc fraction of tornado-treated BF sludge was incorporated in self-reducing cold-bonded briquettes and pellets. Each type of agglomerate was individually subjected to technical-scale smelting reduction experiments aiming to study the feasibility of recycling in-plant residues to the hot metal (HM) desulfurization (deS) plant. The endothermic reactions within the briquettes decreased the heating and reduction rate leaving the briquettes unreduced and unmelted. The pellets were completely reduced within eight minutes of contact with HM but still showed melt-in problems. Cold-bonded briquettes, without BF sludge, were charged in industrial-scale trials to study the recycling potential to the HM deS plant and basic oxygen furnace (BOF). The trials illustrated a potential for the complete recycling of the high-zinc fraction of BF sludge. However, further studies were identified to be required to verify these results.

The metallurgical and cement industries contribute significantly to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Utilizing oxidic by-products from the metallurgical industry as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) can improve resource efficiency and reduce emissions from cement production. Iron silicate copper slags have been studied as SCMs, but mainly in systems where Portland cement is used as an activator. There is limited research on the inherent reactivity of the slag under changing processing conditions. The present study offers insight into the effect of granulation temperature and grinding on the inherent reactivity of an industrially produced iron silicate copper slag. The results showed that granulation temperature had an insignificant effect on reactivity, while grinding generated substantial improvements. The latter effect was concluded to stem from the increased specific surface area, increased number of sites for nucleation and growth of hydrates, and changes in the inherent reactivity owing to structural changes induced by the grinding.

Depending on the operation of the blast furnace (BF), the main outlet of zinc from the furnace is more or less via the BF dust and sludge. As the dust is recycled to the BF, the sludge has to be de-zinced prior to recycling to prevent the accumulation of zinc in the BF. De-zincing and recycling of the low-zinc fraction via sinter have been reported. However, no research con-cerning recycling of upgraded BF sludge via cold-bonded briquettes has been performed. In the present study, a fine-grained BF sludge with low zinc content, generated by a BF operating on a ferrous burden of 100% pellets, was upgraded using the tornado process. The process simultaneously dried and separated the BF sludge into a high-zinc and a low-zinc fraction. The feasibility of recycling the low-zinc fraction to the BF using cold-bonded briquettes was studied on a laboratory-scale BF shaft simulator. On comparison with a reference briquette, the experiments indicated that 10 wt% of the upgraded BF sludge can be added to the briquette without negatively affecting the reducibility. Higher additions were found to render the briquette less reduced compared to the reference under test conditions corresponding to the central part of the BF. The strength of the briquettes was not compromised with the addition of the upgraded BF sludge, and a decision to study the briquettes in the LKAB experimental blast furnace was made in order to evaluate the behavior under actual BF conditions.

Ore-based ironmaking generates a variety of residues, including slags and fines such as dust and sludges. Recycling of these residues within the integrated steel plant or in other applications is essential from a raw-material efficiency perspective. The main recycling route of off-gas dust is to the blast furnace (BF) via sinter, cold-bonded briquettes and tuyere injection. However, solely relying on the BF for recycling implicates that certain residues cannot be recycled in order to avoid build-up of unwanted elements, such as zinc. By introducing a holistic view on recycling where recycling via other process routes, such as the desulfurization (deS) station and the basic oxygen furnace (BOF), landfilling can be avoided. In the present study, process integration analyses were utilized to determine the most efficient recycling routes for off-gas dust that are currently not recycled within the integrated steel plants of Sweden. The feasibility of recycling was studied in experiments conducted in laboratory, pilot, and full-scale trials in the BF, deS station, and BOF. The process integration analyses suggested that recycling to the BF should be maximized before considering the deS station and BOF. The experiments indicated that the amount of residue that are not recycled could be minimized.

Ore-based steelmaking generates various residues including dusts, sludges, scales and slags. Recycling of these residues within the process or via other applications is essential for sustainable production of steel. In blast furnace (BF) ironmaking, the gas-cleaning equipment generally recovers the particles in the off-gas as dust and sludge. Traditionally, the dry dust is recycled via the sinter or, in the case of pellet-based BF operation, via cold-bonded briquettes and injection. As the BF sludge mainly consists of iron and carbon, this residue is of interest to recycle together with the BF dust. However, depending on how the BF is operated, these two residues are more or less the major outlet of zinc from the furnace. Thus, to limit the recycled load of zinc, both materials cannot be recycled without dezincing the sludge prior to recycling. Dezincing and recycling of the low-zinc fraction of BF sludge via sinter have been reported whereas recycling via cold-bonded briquettes has not been performed. In the present study, cold-bonded briquettes containing the low-zinc fraction of dezinced BF sludge were charged as basket samples to the LKAB Experimental Blast Furnace (EBF). The excavated basket samples from the quenched EBF suggested that additions of up to 20 wt.% of upgraded BF sludge was feasible in terms of reducibility and strength. Based on these results, BF sludge were added to cold-bonded briquettes and charged in industrial-scale trials. The trials indicated that the annual generation of BF sludge, after dezincing, could be recycled to the BF.

The transition to hydrogen-based reduction processes within the iron and steelmaking industry will generate new types of slag compositions that require valorization routes. Using slags as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) addresses the carbon dioxide emissions of the cement industry since the SCM requires neither calcination nor clinkering. Conventionally, ironmaking slags from the blast furnace (BF) are recycled as SCMs, i.e., ground granulated BF slag (GGBS). Ideally, future slags from electric arc furnaces (EAFs) operating on hydrogen-based direct reduced iron should be valorized analogously. Since the hydrogen-based process route is not yet realized in an industrial scale, the literature lacks data to support this valorization route, and additionally, literature on scrap-based EAF slags is scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to offer insights into the utilization of ore-based EAF slags as SCMs based on an industrial slag sample from an EAF operating on hot briquetted iron. The slag was remelted, modified, and water-granulated in laboratory scale, and its performance as an SCM was compared to water-granulated ladle slag and two commercial GGBS. The results showed promising reactivities measured using the R3 isothermal calorimeter-based testing protocol. Based on the comparison to GGBS, the study indicated that generating reactive and appropriate SCMs from EAF slags will partly be a challenge in balancing the crystallization of the MeO-type solid solution rich in magnesia and addressing the iron oxide content in the amorphous phase.

The grain texture of the as-printed material evolves during the laser-based powder bed fusion (PBF-LB) process. The resulting mechanical properties are dependent on the obtained grain texture and the properties vary depending on the chosen process parameters such as scan velocity and laser power. A coupled 2D Cellular Automata and Finite Element model (2D CA-FE) is developed to predict the evolution of the grain texture during solidification of the nickel-based superalloy 625 produced by PBF-LB. The FE model predicts the temperature history of the build, and the CA model makes predictions of nucleation and grain growth based on the temperature history. The 2D CA-FE model captures the solidification behavior observed in PBF-LB such as competitive grain growth plus equiaxed and columnar grain growth. Three different nucleation densities for heterogeneous nucleation were studied, 1 × 1011, 3 × 1011, and 5 × 1011. It was found that the nucleation density 3 × 1011 gave the best result compared to existing EBSD data in the literature. With the selected nucleation density, the aspect ratio and grain size distribution of the simulated grain texture also agrees well with the observed textures from EBSD in the literature.

The increased need for efficient material processing and efficient utilisation of more complex raw materials and the need for recycling or reusing byproduct and waste streams, are all increased challenges in material processing. To cope with these challenges, there is a need for new basic physical and thermodynamic data. The present paper gives four examples, as well as preliminary data, of areas where increased knowledge of fundamental parameters will increase the possibility for a sustainable extraction of metals. The examples include measurement of solubility of pure individual slag minerals, determination of distribution of leachable elements between different mineralogical phases in slag, influence of alumina on liquidus temperature of a copper slag and thermal diffusivity measurements in magnetite based iron ore pellets, all important in different ways to increase the sustainability of the respective materials involved

Modeling of hard metal powder inserts is analyzed based on a continuum mechanics approach. In particular, one commonly used cutting insert geometry is studied. For a given advanced constitutive description of the powder material, the material parameter space required to accurately model the mechanical behavior is determined. These findings are then compared with the corresponding parameter space that can possibly be determined from a combined numerical/experimental analysis of uniaxial die powder compaction utilizing inverse modeling. The analysis is pertinent to a particular WC/Co powder and the finite element method is used in the numerical investigations of the mechanical behavior of the cutting insert.

In mineral processing, one of the most important and versatile separation methods is flotation. Flotation utilizes the different surface properties of the valuable minerals in the ore to separate them from the less valuable gangue material in the ore. Crushed and ground ore is mixed with water and fed into flotation tanks. In the flotation tanks, the particles of valuable mineral are made hydrophobic. That way, they can be floated by attaching to air bubbles and gather on top of the flotation tank as froth. This froth, containing higher concentrations of valuable mineral, is recovered and then processed further.

The flotation circuit is controlled and maintained using measurements on the mass flows and grades of different materials. Due to economical, practical, and technological limitations, these measurements are performed at a chosen number of points in the circuit and at discrete points in time. Poor measurement data can have devastating consequences if the operators are left with limited information and errors in the circuit remain undetected.

The accuracy of the acquired measurements is improved by performing mass balance and reconciliation. Traditionally, mass balance uses the sum of the total mass flows and the average grades over long times to avoid including the internal mass of the circuit in the calculations. It is desirable to perform mass balance directly to allow for faster intervention if any failures occur in the circuit during the on-line process.

This report describes an on-line dynamic approach towards mass balancing and reconciliation of the mass flows and grades in a flotation circuit. Here, physical models of the flotation circuit are used to construct mass balance constraints using interpolation and test functions and the mass balance problem is posed as an optimization problem. The optimization problem is to adjust the assay such that the residual, the difference between the measured and the adjusted assay, is minimized while maintaining mass balance.

An implementation in MATLAB and tests on synthetic data show that the dynamic formulation of mass balance does adjust 'erroneous' measurements such that mass balance is fulfilled. Given this result, there are still important aspects of the implementation that have to be addressed. The model uses the unknown and cell specific parameters flotation rate and recovery. Thus, these must be found or properly modeled. This report proposes a possible model for flotation rate as well as a strategy to find the recovery. The requirements of accuracy and speed of the implementation are also discussed.

Possible next steps of this project is to further confirm a time effective implementation using synthetic data. Consequently, the implementation can be adapted for natural data in order to verify correctness of models.

Industrial experiments were conducted in ladle treatment at SSAB Oxelosund aiming at a reduction and even elimination of CaF2 as a component in synthetic slag formers. The effects of the presence of CaF2 on sulphur refining, lining wear as well as types and amount of inclusions were examined. The results of the plant trials indicated that the new slag without CaF2 had enough capacity for sulphur removal. On the other hand, the presence of CaF2 as a flux in the slag resulted in profound lining wear. It was also found that both the number and the types of non-metallic inclusions were not affected by the elimination of CaF2 from synthetic slag. The origins of different types of inclusions were also analysed on the basis of the experimental results. The analysis supported the finding that the presence of CaF2 had little effect on inclusions.

The effect of gas stirring in the ladle furnace on inclusion content in austenitic and duplex stainless steel has been investigated at Sandvik Materials Technology AB. The effect was mainly investigated by varying duration of stirring time and intensity of stirring. Any effect on inclusion content was determined by examining total oxygen content before and after the ladle treatment, along with mapping the chemical composition, size and size distribution of the inclusions. Any effect on slag composition was also determined. The effect of gas stirring was measured on a number of heats with continuous sampling during normal production. Data regarding oxygen content during the ladle refining process and the duration of the processes was used to determine a quantifiable relationship between stirring time, stirring intensity and resulting change in oxygen content. The result of the investigation was recommendations regarding the use of varied stirring intensities and duration of gas stirring for achieving negative net loss in oxygen content before and after ladle treatment.

The background to this bachelor thesis is an on-going project within the VINN Excellence Center Hero-m. The task in this thesis is to perform a literature survey about the martensite transformation and investigate how the resulting fraction depends on cooling below the M_s-temperature. Instead of calculating the undercooling for each of the known fractions of martensite the driving force will be evaluated. Several efforts have been made through the years to describe the relationships between fraction transformed austenite and temperature. The approaches to the first models were empirical and derived from collections of data regarding the amount of retained austenite at different quenching temperatures. Lately, studies have been made to derive a thermodynamical relationship using how the Gibbs energy is affected by increments in volume transformed austenite. Two equations are derived by calculating the resulting driving force at different known quenching temperatures and the respective percentage transformed martensite found in previous works. The data for the steels used show a characteristic slope when linearised. A trend for the steels which have a high characteristic slope is that they also have a high M_s temperature, and the steels which have a low characteristic slope tend to have a low M_s. Previous relationships which describe the martensitic transformation have considered the importance of the M_s temperature only in it being a starting temperature for the transformation. To further incorporate the M_s temperature in the equations presented, further research of the martensitic transformation is required. The approach in this thesis of using thermodynamically calculated data is a base for further investigation of the range of the martensite transformation.

The focus of this master’s thesis is on the heat treatment of Ni-base alloys, specifically the risk of intermetallic σ-phases during different stages of heat treatment. The alloy studied is Sanicro®28, a super-austenitic stainless steel produced by Alleima AB. The problem at hand is that the quench-annealing stage is in high demand at the manufacturing facility, and the goal is to investigate if it can be removed from the manufacturing route. During forging, the outer surface and bar-ends can reach low temperatures, posing a high risk of σ-phase precipitation. Additionally, a necklace structure with large grains surrounded by fine re-crystallization is often observed at the surface of forged superalloys/Ni-base alloys. Today, this forged structure is re-crystallized and σ-phase dissolved during the quench-annealing stage. An alternative to quench-annealing after forging is to re-heat the bar using a Car Wagon Furnace(CWF).

The thesis includes two laboratory experiments simulating two stages of heat treatment, the CWF and induction furnaces/soaking. The samples subjected to simulated CWF treatment showed re-crystallization throughout the entire structure. Annealing in CWF removes the large grains in surface positions. The time in the CWF also showed to be sufficient to dissolve σ-phase present from forging. Samples heated to the induction furnace set temperature do not contain precipitates, while temperatures below the induction set temperature induce σ precipitation to varying degrees. The key findings of the thesis are as follows:

• Re-heating in a CWF right after forging is enough to dissolve σ-phase at half-radius and surface locations.

• Quench-annealing stage could be removed by changing the route to a CWF after forging.

• If temperatures fall below the σ-maximum stability temperature during induction furnace heating cycles, σ-phase precipitation occurs.

In 2004, Swedish steel industry launched the first truly holistic research program in one of the world's most energy intensive industries with the aim to drastically increase the energy and resource efficiency by governing and reinforce (closing) the loop in the steel life cycle. The inter-disciplinary approach of the program has led to a significant cross-pollination in environmental steel technology and related areas apart from the impact in the educational field. The program, alongside the development of resource-efficient production of steel, has led to offshoots in aluminium remelting industry, recovery of rare earths from magnetic scrap and recovery of lead from CRT glasses. The research efforts led to the successful recovery of vanadium and magnetically important manganese nanoferrites from (waste) steel slags. The results, in fact, even provide insights into declarations of human attitudes, future raw material prognoses, process optimizations and pilot plant trials along with instrument and model developments.

Accurate assessment of the integrity of high temperature components will be of ever increasing importance. The reason for this is that many power plants have reached and exceeded their design life and the number of detected defects increases. This is accentuated by the improvement of the methods for non-destructive testing which means that more and smaller defects will be detected. The possibility to assess the influence of defects on the integrity of high temperature components, will be of vital importance to maintain safe and cost effective power plants.

The aim of the present work is to increase the understanding of the influence of service exposure on the remaining life of components in a high temperature plant. The investigation aims to creep test exserviceweld material, 14MoV 6 3, from a Swedish power plant. Thematerial has been in service for a period of about 80 000 hours at atemperature of 530-540 °C and with a nominal hoop stress of 52MPa.Both uniaxial and compact tension creep tests have been performedat a temperature of 550 °C. The stress range used was between 130MPa and 170 MPa for the uniaxial creep tests. For the creep crack growth tests the reference stress was ranging between 122 MPa and146 MPa.

A remaining life assessment according to the R5 procedure is included, where material data from the present experimental study is used. The analysis suggests that a defect or a crack with a depth of 2 mm and a length of 5 mm can be left unattended for a season of service under the condition that the service parameters are not changed. A comparison with the assessment of cracks, found in the same plant as the material for the experimental studies came from, and their known extension during service, is included. A parametric study where load level and type of initial defect/crack are varied is also included.

Fabrication and welding of structural components for the hot section of aero-engines continues to be of high importance to the manufacturing industry of aero-engines. This paper discusses and reviews the literature on hot cracking and strain age cracking, cracking phenomena that can occur during welding or subsequent heat treatment of precipitation hardened Ni- and Fe-Ni-based superalloys. The influence of chemical composition in terms of i.e. hardening elements and impurities, microstructure of base material and weld zone, together with welding processes and corresponding parameters and heat input are discussed and related to the cracking susceptibility of different nickel based superalloys.

Alloy 718, ATI 718Plus (R) and Waspaloy have been investigated in terms of what their respective solidification process reveals. Differential thermal analysis was used to approach the task together with secondary electron and back scattered electron detectors equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy detector. These experimental methods were used to construct pseudo binary phase diagrams that could aid in explaining solidification as well as liquation mechanisms in processes such as welding and casting. Furthermore, it was seen that Waspaloy has the smallest solidification range, followed by Alloy 718, and finally ATI 718Plus (R) possessing the largest solidification interval in comparison.

The ability to weld repair three precipitation hardening superalloys, i.e. Alloy 718, Allvac 718Plus and Waspaloy, with gas tungsten arc welding, is compared in this study. Four different solution heat treatment conditions for each material were examined: Alloy 718 and Allvac 718Plus heat treated at 954uC–1 h, 982uC–1 h, 954uC–15 h and 1020uC–1 h and Waspaloy for 4 h at 996uC, 1010uC, 1040uC and at 1080uC. By metallography, the total number of cracks was evaluated in both the heat affected zone and the fusion zone, which made it possible to consistently rate the repair weldability of these three materials. Alloy 718 was significantly the best one, with Allvac 718Plus slightly better than Waspaloy. As expected, the solution heat treatment conditions only affected the heat affected zone cracking behaviour.