The properties of carbides, such as morphology, size, and type, in H13 hot work die steel were studied with optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis; their size distribution and quantity after tempering, at different positions within the ingot, were analyzed using Image-Pro Plus software. Thermodynamic calculations were also performed for these carbides. The microstructures near the ingot surface were homogeneous and had slender martensite laths. Two kinds of carbide precipitates have been detected in H13: (1) MC and M₆C, generally smaller than 200 nm; and (2) M₂₃C₆, usually larger than 200 nm. MC and M₆C play the key role in precipitation hardening. These are the most frequent carbides precipitating at the halfway point from the center of the ingot, and the least frequent at the surface. From the center of the ingot to its surface, the size and volume fraction of the carbides decrease, and the toughness improves, while the contribution of the carbides to the yield strength increases.

Based on thermal simulation experiment, SEM analysis and mathematical simulation, limestone dissolution and decomposition mechanism in steelmaking slag were studied. The results showed that limestone decomposition and dissolution happen simultaneously in molten slag, and influence each other. Owing to high-activity lime product and CO₂ from limestone decomposition, the dissolution rate of limestone is greater than that of lime under the same conditions in slag, and the calculated activation energy of limestone dissolution is 226.8 kJ mol⁻¹. On the other hand, as decomposition product lime dissolves into slag, a sloughing-type unreacted shrinking core model was proposed to describe limestone decomposition behaviour in slag. In addition, mathematical simulation results showed that heat transfer is the rate-controlling step for limestone decomposition in slag.

In this paper, the silicon volatilisation phenomenon during slagging by limestone in basic oxygen furnace (BOF) and its influencing factors were studied by industrial experiment and thermodynamic calculation. In our estimation, the volatilisation ratio of silicon in this industrial experiment is about 13.01–47.82%. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the silicon volatilisation phenomenon happens after charging limestone directly into BOF because CO₂ from limestone decomposition could massively oxidise the silicon in the hot metal into gaseous SiO in the hot spot zone. The mass of produced SiO increases, then decreases with the increase of the limestone addition and the carbon content of hot metal, and SiO mass is proportional to silicon content of hot metal. Compared with lime slagging, the strong stirring effect of CO₂ from limestone decomposition, massive foaming slag formation, great increment of furnace gas are all favourable to silicon volatilisation.

In this work, normal manufacture of a B-bearing steel was hampered by cracks in steel. In order to control these cracks, the formation mechanism has been examined through a comprehensive analysis of crack morphology, element segregation, high temperature mechanical properties, and precipitates. The high-temperature thermoplastic capabilities of the steel were found to be reduced by boron nitride particles precipitated at grain boundary. This led to the formation of a brittle zone in the straightening zone of the continuous casting process, which in turn caused cracks. Based on the formation mechanism of these cracks, the cracks were successfully controlled by adding an appropriate amount of Ti element to the steel and reducing the charging temperature of the heating furnace.