Avaliação de aço baixo carbono manufaturado em Forno de Indução a Vácuo (VIM) e Forno de Refusão a Vácuo (VAR)

Abstract

Steels are generally subjected to thermomechanical operations during their manufacturing process, such as forging, rolling, machining, heat treatments, and/or surface treatments. However, even after these stages, steels may still exhibit undesirable structures in their microstructure, whose presence can cause serious issues such as wear and premature failures. In order to minimize such inconveniences, the manufacturing of components derived from remelted ingots, produced from conventionally made steels, becomes an alternative to be considered. In this context, this work involves the study of remelting processes of a structural steel using Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) and Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR). The analysis of the VIM and VAR processes on a laboratory scale, as well as the characteristics of the steel subjected to these remelting routes, will allow a better understanding of the behavior of remelted steels under controlled atmosphere. Additionally, thermomechanical processing was carried out on samples obtained from pilot-scale ingots, under analogous conditions, in order to evaluate the microstructural and mechanical behavior. Thus, possible improvements were verified, considering that the starting point involves distinct as-cast structures.